


Forever's gonna start tonight

by pterawaters



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alpha Jonathan Byers, Alpha Steve Harrington, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - No Monsters, Crime Fighting, High School, Kidnapping, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Multi, Mystery, Omega Nancy Wheeler, Pack Dynamics, Polyamory, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:53:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 42,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23152801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pterawaters/pseuds/pterawaters
Summary: Barb thought her biggest problem was the fact that her best friend started dating an idiot jock and his two asshole Betas. Except someone in the Hawkins area has been kidnapping Omegas, and Barb gets taken just two days after Will Byers goes missing. Distraught by the loss of her friend, Nancy teams up with Jonathan Byers to find out what happened to their loved ones. With two Omegas missing and Steve head-over-heels in love with Nancy, he realizes that his Betas, Tommy and Carol, aren't the kind of people he wants to be with after all.
Relationships: Barbara "Barb" Holland & Nancy Wheeler, Jonathan Byers & Will Byers, Jonathan Byers/Steve Harrington/Nancy Wheeler, Steve Harrington/Nancy Wheeler, Tommy Hagan/Steve Harrington/Carol Perkins
Comments: 72
Kudos: 86





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Welcome to my week-long fever dream that is this fic! I had a lot of fun with the world building, and oddly enough for an A/B/O fic, I didn't include anything explicit! 
> 
> Make sure to mind the tags. Nothing too graphic occurs "on screen," but I'll make sure to put warnings in the notes for implications that could be triggering. If you see something that I've forgotten to warn for, please do let me know!
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

“Oh, you know who presented as Omega over the summer?” Carol asked, flicking the ash off her cigarette and passing it to Steve.

“Who?” Tommy asked. Nudging Steve with his head, he said, “I hope it’s Laurie. Can you imagine motor-boating those enormous cans?”

“Laurie presented Beta last year,” Steve said, taking a drag and passing it to Tommy. “Doesn’t mean we can’t ask her out.”

“Nah, I heard she’s in a pack at her church,” Carol said. “Some senior chick from St. Agnes is her Alpha.”

“Shit,” Steve said, looking up at the clouds and pushing his fingers through Tommy’s short hair. “So, who presented Omega?”

“Nancy Wheeler,” Carol replied, chuckling a little and pressing her nose to the underside of Steve’s jaw. “What do you think, Toms? Could an Omega like Nancy help us keep up with Stevie his next rut?”

“God, I hope so,” Tommy said, giving Carol back the cigarette. “Last one we were both walking funny for a week.”

Steve smirked. “That was a fun day.”

“Yeah, for _you_ ,” Carol insisted. “Come on. They’re just gonna get more intense. We need an Omega who can keep up with you.”

“Like Nancy Wheeler?” Steve asked. 

“She’s kind of a nerd,” Tommy said. “She gets, like, straight A’s. How could a chick like that keep up with our Stevie?”

“You guys haven’t had gym class with her.” Carol knocked the bridge of her nose against Steve’s jaw again, scent-marking herself as his. “She’s skinny, but it’s like, pure muscle. I thought for sure she was gonna present Alpha.”

“Won’t hurt to ask her out,” Steve said, rubbing more of his scent onto Carol, since she seemed to be craving it. Fuck, he was craving it too. His next rut was probably only a couple of weeks away. “C’mon,” he said, sitting up and kissing Carol, then Tommy. “Let’s go to my place. I wanna fuck.”

“You always wanna fuck,” Tommy said, but he let Steve pull him to his feet and scent-mark him. “That’s why our pack needs an Omega.”

Steve grinned and said, “I’ll take it under advisement.”

~*~

Barb watched the scene going down before her like it was a slow-motion car crash. She and Nancy had just been studying in the library, when Steve Harrington of all people walked up to them and said, “Hi, Nancy.”

He smelled like Alpha pheromones and hairspray. Nancy _smiled_ at him and said, “Hi, Steve. What’s going on?”

“I wondered,” he crouched down next to the table, putting himself below Nancy’s eye level – which was really fucking weird for an Alpha to do, and made Barb suspicious – and asked, “if you might want to go catch a movie with me and my pack. Tomorrow night?”

“Hmm,” Nancy said, but she was still _smiling_. “Remind me who’s in your pack again.”

“Tommy H. and Carol,” he replied, smiling as he reached out and traced a finger down the back of Nancy’s hand. “I’ll make sure they’re on their best behavior.”

Nancy took a deep breath. 

_ Shit _ . Stupid Steve Harrington’s stupid Alpha pheromones were getting to her, weren’t they?

“Okay,” Nancy said, to Barb’s horror. “Yeah, sure. Here,” she said, tearing a page out of her notebook and writing on it. “Give me a call tonight and we can go over the details.”

Steve grinned. “I can do that.” As he stood up, he took the paper Nancy gave him, touching her hand again. Nodding over at Barb, he said, “Hey, Barb. Nice to see you.”

“You too,” Barb lied with a polite smile. “Bye.”

Steve gave Nancy another smile, and then left, the cloud of his pheromones lingering behind him. 

“I think I’m gonna be sick.”

“What?” Nancy asked, tearing her gaze away from Steve’s retreating back. “Why? Are you okay?”

“Nancy, Steve Harrington just asked you out.” Barb couldn’t believe she had to point it out like this. “Nance! He’s an asshole!”

Nancy rolled her eyes. "He's an Alpha, Barb. They're all kind of like that."

Barb sighed and thought, _You wouldn't have been like that_. It was a stupid, silly thought. No matter how much everyone expected Nancy to present Alpha, she _didn't_. She was an Omega, like Barb, and no pack needed _two_ Omegas. 

Barb wasn't even sure she wanted an Alpha, now that Nancy wasn't one, and what did that say about her? Maybe she was just broken. 

~*~

Jonathan sat on the front porch of his house, keeping watch, bouncing his leg and trying not to hear what was going on inside the house. A minute later, his mom stepped outside, her hands shaky as she put a cigarette up to her mouth and lit it.

"How's he doing?" Jonathan asked, wincing when the Omega pheromones clinging to her hit his nose and everything went _brighter_. He put his hand over his eyes, blocking out the extra light while his pupils readjusted. 

"Oh, okay," Joyce assured him, patting Jonathan's shoulder. "He's just so _little_. It shouldn't have come on this early." She shook her head and took another drag.

"Yeah," Jonathan said, still tense. They both knew Lonnie's absence was likely the instigating factor for Will presenting so young. He wasn't even thirteen yet. 

Jonathan hadn't even presented until a few months ago, and he was three and a half years older than Will. Maybe if he'd presented earlier, he would have been Alpha enough to fill that gap in the pack. Not that Jonathan wanted to be Alpha enough for anything, but if he had been, maybe Will wouldn't be suffering like he was now.

God, Jonathan felt like he could _kill_ Lonnie for doing this to them. Strangle him and then rip him into pieces with his bare hands!

"Fuck," he muttered, putting his head down and pressing his wrists over his ears. 

Joyce squeezed Jonathan's shoulder, saying, "Hey, hey."

Jonathan sighed and looked up at her.

"The aggression is normal, okay? It's instinct to want to protect him during times like this," she assured him.

"Yeah, I watched the tape you gave me," Jonathan told her, but he couldn't stop the nervous motion of his leg. "Maybe I should get out of here for a couple hours."

"You can if you want," Joyce told him. "But I think you're just going to feel worse, not being close enough to protect him."

Nodding, Jonathan put his head down again. If Alpha biology just meant being protective of his mom and baby brother, Jonathan thought it would have been a lot easier for him to accept it. Instead, it meant a whole truck load of behaviors that Jonathan recognized from spending the first fourteen years of his life living with Lonnie Byers. It meant that protective aggression bleeding over into everything else. It meant getting angry at the smallest of slights. It meant hitting first and apologizing later. It meant hurting the people he was supposed to protect.

So, yeah, if Jonathan wore an extra coat of deodorant and kept his distance from everyone at school so no one would realize he'd presented Alpha, it meant having that much longer to figure out what to do with all this goddamn hormonal _rage_.

"How much longer?" Jonathan asked, looking up at his mom. "He's little, right? It shouldn't last too long."

"No," she said, rubbing the scent gland under Jonathan's jaw with her thumb, calming him. "Not too much longer. Not that anyone's going to sleep tonight. I'll call you both out of school tomorrow."

"Okay," he said, just as a noise in the woods caught his attention. Before Jonathan consciously made the decision, he was up and running toward that sound, his fists balled tightly. 

"Jonathan!" Joyce called after him, but he couldn't stop. Not when he caught the scent of another Alpha.

He followed the scent into the woods, but it dissipated before he could find its source. Even out this far from the house, he could still smell Will, which meant other people could smell him, too. 

_ Fuck _ .

Jonathan pressed the heel of his palm against the scent gland on the left side of his neck, then wiped his palm on one of the trees as he walked back toward the house. He marked a couple more trees and the corner of the shed before he was satisfied. 

When he got back to the porch, Joyce gave him a sad, if understanding look and went back into the house. Jonathan pulled his jacket closer around himself and kept watch.

~*~

Nancy didn't want to admit that she was waiting by the phone, but she was waiting by the phone. Well, and she was getting homework done too, but mostly she was _not_ waiting for Steve Harrington to call her. Even if he was the best looking, most popular Alpha in the whole school. Well, maybe Hailey Piraino was more popular, but she and Martha Paterson had been bonded for ages, so it wasn't like Hailey was available. Steve was the best-looking, most popular _available_ Alpha at the school. 

Why shouldn't Nancy be looking forward to his call?

Yeah, she wasn't _super_ excited about the rest of his pack, but they were still young. It didn't have to be a permanent arrangement. It could just be for now. And she had to admit, spending her next heat with someone _capable_ sounded a lot more fun than spending another one alone. 

Nancy could tell that Barb was upset that she was considering dating Steve. Nancy thought she was probably jealous, because Barb had presented almost a year ago and still hadn't found an Alpha she wanted to date. Not that she had to date to be a complete, actualized, person. Because that was totally a myth.

But, instincts _were_ instincts, and needs _were_ needs. 

"Hey," said Nancy's younger brother, knocking on her open door. 

"What, Mike?" she asked, not looking up from her homework.

"Do you still have a dictionary?" he asked, coming into her room uninvited and crouching down in front of her little bookcase. "I think Paul took mine when he moved to college."

"It's on the far left," Nancy told him, the mention of their older brother making Nancy sigh. Things around here were a lot less fun since Paul went to college. The only picture she had of him in her room was an old family picture from before Holly was born. Catching sight of the tall figure standing next to Paul in the photo, Nancy asked Mike, "You ever miss Dad?"

"Sure," Mike said, pulling the dictionary out from between the other books. "Sometimes. Mostly I’m just pissed at Harvey for getting into that fight.”

“Yeah,” Nancy agreed sadly. “It was stupid.” With Harvey dead and Paul away at college, the Wheeler pack didn’t have any Alphas left. Just two Betas, Ted and Dina, and Karen, who was an Omega like Nancy. 

Just like everyone else, Nancy had thought she was going to present as an Alpha, like her dad and older brother. She’d even selected her wardrobe to accommodate the appendage she didn’t end up growing. 

Maybe without an Alpha at home, and presenting Omega over the summer, Nancy was feeling more vulnerable than she liked. Not that she was helpless. Before he died, Harvey had taught Paul, Nancy, and even Mike the basics of boxing and wrestling. Holly hadn’t been born until after his death. She never got to meet him.

The phone rang and Nancy couldn't help but snatch it up, saying, “Hello?”

“Did he call yet?” asked Barb’s voice, somehow mocking and sincere all at once. 

“No,” Nancy said with a pout, waving Mike out of her room, and kicking him when he didn’t move fast enough. “So, I can’t talk to you, Barb. I don’t want to tie up the line.”

“Okay, fine,” she said with a huff. “Call me later, okay?”

“Okay,” Nancy assured her. “I’ll call you right after I talk to him. Bye!”

“Bye, Nance.”

It wasn’t even five minutes later when the phone rang again. “Hello?” Nancy said, but at the same time, Karen’s voice also said, “Hello?”

“Hi. Nancy, is that you?” asked Steve, and Nancy felt pleased that he’d likely recognized her voice. 

“Hi, it’s me,” she replied. “Mom, you can hang up.”

“Who’s this calling?” Karen asked, instead of hanging up.

“Mom!”

“Steve Harrington, ma’am,” he said, perfectly charming and polite. “I’m calling to ask if I can take your daughter out tomorrow night.”

“Out where?”

“To the seven o’clock showing of All the Right Moves, ma’am.”

“Who will be driving?”

Nancy scoffed loudly. “Mom!”

“I will,” Steve said. “I’ve got my license, a safe car, and insurance.”

“Will anyone else be there?”

“Mom!” Nancy couldn’t believe this.

Steve chuckled a little – of _course_ he did, this was ridiculous – and replied, “The other members of my pack, Tommy Hagen and Carol Perkins.”

"Which one of you is the Alpha?"

Nancy couldn't believe this! "Mom! You're being rude!"

"It's okay, Nance," Steve told her. "I don't mind answering. I'm the Alpha, Mrs. Wheeler. And, yes, Carol, Tommy, and I are Juniors this year, in case you were wondering."

"I was," Karen replied. "Well, as long as you bring Nancy straight back after the movie, I don't see why she won't be able to go. That is, if she wants to go."

"Yes, I want to go!" Nancy cried. "Mom! Hang up!"

"Okay, _fine_. Goodbye, Steve Harrington."

"Goodbye, Mrs. Wheeler," he said, and then finally the line clicked as Karen hung up her extension.

"I'm so sorry about that," Nancy said, her face burning with embarrassment. 

Steve laughed, but it was a kind laugh, and he said, "Don't worry about it, Nancy. I understand. Alphas can be overprotective."

Nancy almost told him that Karen was an Omega, but she decided now wasn't exactly the time. She gave a nervous laugh and said, "So, what time do you want to pick me up tomorrow? Six-thirty?"

"Sure," Steve said. "That'll give us plenty of time to get snacks and good seats. What's your address?"

Nancy relayed it to him, and then said, "Maybe I'll see you at school tomorrow?"

"Count on it," Steve replied, his tone making Nancy feel all warm and safe. Yeah, she was definitely looking forward to tomorrow.

~*~

Jonathan slept most of the day after Will's heat broke, waking up around three in the afternoon. He stumbled out of his bedroom, finding Will eating cereal and watching a soap opera. Jonathan poured himself a bowl of cereal and joined him. "How're you feeling, bud?"

"Mostly better," Will said, going a little pink. "Sorry you didn't sleep because of me."

"It's not your fault," Jonathan insisted. "Just biology."

Will sighed. "Yeah." After a few more minutes watching a plot line Jonathan honestly couldn't understand, Will asked, "When I go to school on Monday, everyone's going to be able to tell, aren't they?"

Jonathan sighed. "Yeah, probably."

"Could everyone tell you presented Alpha when you went back the first day of school?" he asked, and Jonathan thought about lying to him. 

Eventually, he decided it was better to tell Will the truth, "Not really. If anyone noticed, they didn't say anything."

"But Omega pheromones are stronger, aren't they?" Will pushed his spoon around in the milk left in his bowl. "So everyone will be able to tell."

"Yeah, they're a little stronger," Jonathan admitted. "If you want, I can get you some of the deodorant I use. It blocks the scent a little bit, makes it harder to notice."

Will perked up at that information. "Yeah?"

Jonathan nodded. "It's for people who have to be in close quarters, like military ships and factory floors. It…" Jonathan made a regretful face at Will. "It probably won't keep your friends from noticing."

"I don't care if my friends know." Will shrugged. "I was going to tell them anyway. It's some of the eighth graders who might…"

Jonathan just about bent his spoon, he gripped it so hard. "Let me know," he said to Will. "If anyone gives you trouble, let me know. I'll take care of it."

Will laughed, which Jonathan honestly hadn't been expecting.

Smiling, Jonathan asked, "What?"

Lowering his voice, Will repeated, "I'll take care of it," and laughed again. "You sound like Conan the Barbarian."

"I do not!" Jonathan insisted, laughing and shoving Will's shoulder. "Shut up!"

"Me big Alpha!" Will said, sounding more like Tarzan than Conan. "Me scent mark whole house! Me fight enemies!" Will giggled, and Jonathan couldn't help but laugh along with him.

"I'm not that bad," Jonathan insisted. 

His voice a little quieter, Will said, "No. You're not that bad."

Jonathan wondered if he was thinking about Lonnie. He probably was. God, that man had been out of the house for almost two years, and he was still so _present_ everywhere in their lives. It sucked.

~*~

Steve sat in the movie theater, between Tommy and Nancy, and he could tell how uncomfortable Nancy was with the way Tommy and Carol were making out. Steve nudged Tommy with his elbow and hissed at him. "Cut it out!"

Carol flipped him off. 

Pissed, Steve leaned over toward Nancy and said, "Let's you and me sit somewhere else."

"Yeah," Nancy agreed. 

Steve followed her out of that aisle and a few more forward, ignoring Tommy's attempts at getting his attention. He and Nancy sat toward the front of the movie theater, and it was a lot easier to focus on the movie without his packmates all but dry-humping in the chair next to his. Like, yeah, Steve was a big fan of making out, but there was a time and a place. Their first date with a new Omega was neither the time nor the place. 

_ Shit _ .

But five minutes after moving, Nancy clasped Steve's hand and smiled at him, and he didn't feel quite so angry anymore. He smiled back, rubbing his thumb against hers. The slightest whiff of Omega drifted from her skin and Steve thought he'd be content to just sit beside Nancy and breathe her in for as long as she would let him.

Ten minutes later, she leaned her head against his shoulder and he got to breathe in the intoxicating scent of her hair. He'd dated two Omegas before Nancy, but neither of them had smelled this good to him. It must have been those compatible chemical signatures Mrs. Ross had taught them about in Health class. 

Steve had to stop himself from scent marking Nancy without permission. He focused on the movie, and on Nancy's hand in his, not on the fact that her head was so close to the scent gland under his jaw. He wouldn't even have to move his head all that much, and then she'd smell like him. It wouldn't last all the way until school on Monday, but even just a little while would be nice. 

A first date was too early for scent marking, though. So Steve didn't ask. And he didn't do it. He just enjoyed being in Nancy's presence.

And if when Steve brought her home after the movie and walked her to the front door, if she'd rubbed her jaw against his while they'd hugged goodnight, well that was her doing. Not his.

Steve got back in the car and sighed happily, telling Carol and Tommy, "I really like her."

"Yeah, we can tell," Carol replied. "You're all stupid over her, letting her scent-mark you before you've even kissed?"

" _Shit_ ," Steve said, looking up at the house. "I forgot to kiss her!"

"See?" Carol said. "Stupid. She makes you stupid."

"Nah, he's stupid all the time," said Tommy, making Carol laugh. 

"Fuck you guys," Steve said, getting back out of the car. He saw the lights in one of the upstairs rooms turn on, and figured that had to be Nancy's room. There was a way up to one of her windows on the garage roof, and Steve didn't know what the hell he was doing, but then he was at the house, climbing up and knocking on Nancy's window. 

She startled, wide-eyed, but her expression softened when she recognized him. Looking the tiniest bit exasperated, Nancy came over and opened the window. "What?"

"I forgot to tell you how much I wanted to kiss you," he said, watching her expression as it changed from a little exasperated to _more_ exasperated, and then back to fond again. 

Nancy leaned over and gave him the tiniest peck on the lips. "There. Satisfied?"

"Yes," he admitted, letting out his breath in a rush and putting his hand over his wildly-beating heart. "I can die happy now. Nancy Wheeler kissed me!"

She laughed, her smile the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. "Will you go away? I can't have you getting caught here!"

"Can I call you tomorrow?"

"Yes, yes, just go away," she said, but she was still smiling. 

Steve leaned through her window and stole another kiss before saying, "Bye, Nancy," and jumping down from the garage roof. He jogged back to his car, grinning from ear to ear.

As he got back into the driver's seat, Carol said in a soft voice, "You're really gone over her, aren't you?"

"Yeah," Steve admitted, starting the engine. "I think I really am."

~*~

Barb’s entire Saturday was overtaken with Nancy’s sudden infatuation. “I mean, he actually climbed onto the roof just so he could kiss me,” Nancy gushed for the ninth time that hour. “Who does that?”

“I don’t know,” Barb said, looking through the shirts on the rack for something in her size. “Dumbass Alphas do shit like that all the time.”

It didn’t help that Nancy still smelled like him, which meant he’d scent-marked her. Barb found the shirt in Nancy’s size and took it off the rack, handing it to her and giving up finding anything for herself. None of the sizes in this store were big enough. “I can’t believe you let him scent-mark you on the first date.”

Nancy scoffed, “It’s not like we slept together, Barb. We hugged goodnight and I…” Nancy shrugged. “I couldn’t help it. Rubbing my jaw against his was just one of those instinct things. You’ll understand when you meet an Alpha you like.”

“Not likely in this town,” she replied, catching sight of herself in the mirror. She was too tall and too wide for _anyone_ to be interested in her, much less an Alpha. 

Nancy went into the dressing room and came back out wearing the top Barb had picked out. “What do we think?”

“It looks good on you,” Barb had to admit. Nancy was a little skinny for the “ideal” Omega body type, but Barb knew she would probably soften a bit as she got older. Barb knew she would never be so lucky with her body already the way it was. “I’m sure Steve will love it.”

~*~

As soon as Jonathan got home from work, he knew something was wrong. The house smelled … it smelled like another Alpha. 

“Will?” Jonathan called out, going straight to his brother’s bedroom, but not finding him there. “Will?”

Jonathan’s hands shook with adrenaline. He forced them steady enough to dial the Wheeler house. 

“Hello?” said a female voice. Jonathan thought it was probably Nancy, but he wasn’t sure. 

“Hi. This is Jonathan Byers. Is Will over at your place?”

“Oh, Jonathan,” she said, and he recognized that it _was_ Nancy. “Will? I don’t know. Hang on. I’ll check.”

Jonathan tapped nervously on the wall next to the phone while he waited. Eventually, the phone picked up and Nancy said, “No. Mike says he wasn’t feeling well enough to come over for their campaign. He stayed home. Isn’t he there?”

“I bet he’s with my mom,” Jonathan told her, not wanting her to worry until there was really something to worry about. “Thanks for checking, Nancy.”

“You’re welcome.”

Hanging up the phone, Jonathan looked at the clock. His mom would have already left Melvald’s. She’d be home any minute. Just in case, Jonathan dialed the number there. It rang ten times before he gave in and hung up the phone. 

_ Shit _ .

Jonathan made a quick search of all of Will’s hiding places, both in the house, and then out in the shed. When he didn’t find Will there, Jonathan grabbed a flashlight from the shed and went out into the woods. 

“Will!” he cried out. “Where are you?”

Castle Byers was empty, too.

“Will!”

Sick with worry, Jonathan made his way back to the house. He went in the back door just as his mom was coming in the front. She stopped short and sniffed before asking, “Did you have a friend over today?”

Jonathan slowly shook his head. “I can’t find Will. I can’t find him, and the house smells like someone else.”

“Another Alpha?”

Jonathan nodded. 

“Shit. Shit. Shit,” Joyce said, pushing past Jonathan to get to the phone. She dialed it, and then clasped Jonathan’s hand tightly, both of them shaking as she waited. “Hi, I need the police. I think my son has been taken.”

God, hearing it out loud made the bile rise in Jonathan’s throat. 

“If I knew who had taken him, I wouldn’t be calling you! Jesus!”

Fifteen minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Jonathan opened it, and the uniformed police officer on the other side tipped his hat. Jonathan felt relieved that he didn’t smell like an Alpha. He didn’t think he could handle another Alpha in his space at the moment. All his protective instincts were screaming and he had no direction to focus them in. 

An hour later, the state police K-9 unit arrived. An hour after that, the Chief of Police. At that point, Jonathan was so on edge that he got halfway to the man, intent on pushing him out of the house, before he stopped himself, saying, “Sorry.”

“I get it,” the Chief said, and he smelled like beer along with the Alpha scent of him. “I promise, I won’t stay longer than I have to.”

“Hop,” Joyce said, and it was obvious to Jonathan that she knew him well, at least at one point. “Someone took my boy.”

“You’re _sure_ he didn’t run away?”

Jonathan scoffed, by Joyce remained calm and answered the question. “No, no. He wouldn’t. He just had his first heat on Thursday. He was still recovering.”

“He didn’t even go to his best friend’s house today,” Jonathan told them. “He usually goes every week.”

Hopper frowned at his notes. “Will was born in ‘71?”

“Yes,” Joyce answered, pacing around a few steps here and there. “March 22nd.”

“He’s still twelve, and he went into heat?” Hopper looked up from his notes, and there was none of the judgement Jonathan had been expecting, just grave concern. 

“Yes,” Joyce said. “H-he got through it okay. He’d been resting.” She bit her lips. “I had to go to work.”

“Just the three of you in the house?” Hopper asked. 

Jonathan nodded. 

Pointing to him, Hopper asked, “You’re the only Alpha who lives here?”

Jonathan nodded again. 

“Where were you?”

“I work at the record store,” Jonathan said. “I close at seven on Sundays. It’s not that late. He should have been fine.”

“Yeah, except he’s a very young Omega, still leaking pheromones. I could smell him from halfway up the drive,” Hopper sighed and Jonathan felt a tight knot of guilt in his stomach. “Okay. I’m gonna call in a couple more dog teams, see if we can make some headway.” He took off his hat and scratched the hair underneath before putting it back on. “What about other family? Relatives? His dad? Any of them Alphas? Lonnie is, right?”

“I know what Lonnie smells like,” Jonathan insisted. “It’s not him. Someone else was here.”

Hopper nodded. “Okay. Okay. We’ll…” He sighed and looked around the house again. “We’ll do our best.”

His tone didn’t give Jonathan much hope.


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2_

“Everything okay, Stevie?” asked Olivia, leaning over the back of the couch and messing up Steve’s hair. 

Steve batted her hand away and shrugged. “Sort of. I went on a date with this new Omega on Friday. She was great, but…” He looked over at her. “When you met Dad, was Mom already with him?”

“Yeah,” she replied. “I was with Leo at the time. Do you remember Leo?”

“Kind of,” Steve said, knowing that he remembered photos of Leo much better than the Beta himself. “Did you and Leo both like Mom and Dad?”

“We both liked Harriet,” Olivia said, coming around and sitting on the couch next to Steve, putting her arms around him. “Leo and Fred never really got along that well.”

“That’s why Leo left?”

“Mm-hm,” Olivia said with a nod. “Samantha joined us about a year after Leo and I joined your parents, a few years before Leo left. Just a couple months before you were born.”

Steve nodded, he’d known a lot of his parents’ story already. “I _really_ like this Omega.”

“What’s her name?” Olivia asked, pulling Steve closer and petting his hair. 

“Nancy,” Steve told her. “But the rest of my pack doesn’t seem to like her nearly as much as I do.”

“They just need to get to know her,” Olivia insisted. “With us betas, it’s less about chemistry, and more about personality. I’m sure once they get to know her, Tommy and Carol will like her too.”

“Yeah?” Steve asked, not sure what he would do if they never fell in love with Nancy the way he was already falling. “I hope so.”

“And,” she said, pressing a kiss to Steve’s cheek, “even if they don’t, you’re still young. There’s plenty of time to date around before you settle on one particular pack for the rest of your life.”

“That’s true,” Steve told her. He’d always pictured Tommy and Carol being his pack through thick and thin forever. Maybe they didn’t have to be. If he found someone he liked better.

~*~

Nancy was in second period when she heard the news. Penny Kellogg whispered to Iris Dolan, “Did you hear another Omega’s gone missing?”

Turning around to face Penny, Nancy asked, “Who is it?”

Her eyes wide, Penny said, “Some seventh grader. Will Byers.”

Nancy remembered the nervous phone call she’d gotten from Jonathan the night before. “Oh, shit.”

She hadn’t even known Will had presented Omega. He was so young!

“You know him?” Penny asked, and Nancy nodded. 

“He’s my brother’s best friend!”

“Oh, no,” said Penny reaching forward and putting her hand on Nancy’s arm. “I’m sorry! I hope they find him.”

“Yeah,” Nancy said, staring at the clock. “Me too.”

In the passing period between second and third, Nancy ran across the parking lot to the middle school, catching Mike at his locker. “Did you hear?” she asked him. “Do you know?”

He turned toward her and Nancy knew he must have heard, because he was crying. Nancy dropped her books on the ground and pulled Mike into a hug, scent-marking him a little bit to help him feel calmer. “Chief Hopper came and talked to us,” Mike said, his voice muffled by Nancy’s shoulder. “They think someone took him _because_ he’s an Omega.”

“Bastard,” Nancy hissed, revolted at the thought of anyone hurting an Omega, much less Mike’s sweet little friend. “This sucks.”

“Yeah,” Mike said, marking Nancy a little bit too. “The principal called Mom. She’s gonna come get me and take me home.”

Nancy nodded. "Yeah. That's probably a good idea. I–" Nancy thought over her schedule for the rest of the day. "I have a test, I have to get back." She hugged him again. "I'm sure we'll find Will."

Mike said, "Yeah. Yeah, we'll find him," but his tone wasn't as sure as his words.

Nancy went back to the high school, stopping at the office for a tardy pass. When she got to class, Barb gave her a look, but Mrs. Click wasn't the kind of teacher to allow talking while she was trying to teach, so Nancy waved her off.

After class, Nancy told Barb, "Will Byers is missing."

Barb took a sharp breath. "Oh, god!" Then, after switching out her books, she said, "Jonathan wasn't in English class this morning. I thought he was out sick again."

Nancy gave Barb a confused look. "You notice when Jonathan's not there?"

She shrugged. "Sometimes we pair up for assignments. He's quiet too."

As they walked to their fourth period class, Nancy asked, "Jonathan's a Beta, right?"

"Yeah, I think so," Barb replied with a shrug. "Why?"

"That's good. That's good he's a Beta and not an Omega like Will. Penny Kellogg said that Will was _another_ missing Omega. That's three in the past year, Barb. It's not supposed to– People are supposed to _protect_ Omegas."

Nancy noticed the way Barb shivered before she said, "I don't like it either, Nancy. Not at all."

~*~

"What do you think of this one?" Joyce asked Jonathan, her voice thick and her eyes wet with tears. "This is pretty recent."

Jonathan took the picture of Will with a nod. "From just a couple months ago. Yeah, this is it."

The door opened and Chief Hopper came back into the house, his hat in his hands. "K-9 units hit a dead end," he said carefully. "There are tire tracks in the mud next to Kerley Boulevard, so that's one lead at least, if not a very good one." He sighed and crouched down on the other side of the coffee table. "I need you both to understand. Will has been missing for at least sixteen hours. If he was transported to a secondary location, the chances of us finding him alive are extremely low."

Jonathan's breath stopped in his lungs. Beside him, Joyce cried out with grief, her fingers digging into Jonathan's arm. She cried, "Hopper! You have to–! You can't _give up_ , just because it's been sixteen hours. He's still out there! I know it!"

"We're not giving up, Joyce," Hopper said, and Jonathan could see the way Hopper's eyes dilated in response to an Omega in distress. Somehow, he kept the reaction out of his voice. "I just want you to have realistic expectations, alright? It doesn't serve anyone's best interests to have false hope."

"Get out," Joyce said, and Jonathan was on his feet in half a second, ready to do whatever she needed him to do. "Get out and find my son, Hopper! Find Will!"

"Okay," the Chief said, holding up his hands and backing away slowly, his eyes trained on Jonathan. "I'll do my best."

After he left and Jonathan could hear him driving away, the adrenaline faded and Jonathan was left, dropping onto the couch and shaking. Crying. Will, his little brother Will, was probably dead. 

He was probably dead because Jonathan hadn't been here to protect him like he should have.

Once the tears started coming, they didn't stop for a long time, even though his mom held him close, rubbed his jaw, and murmured comforting words in his ear. 

~*~

By lunch time, Steve was more than a little irritable. He hadn't seen Nancy all morning. She didn't meet him in the bathroom like he'd asked her to with his note. Was she ignoring him? Was she re-thinking dating him, after that shit Tommy and Carol had pulled at the movie theater?

God, he could strangle them. 

Yeah, that was definitely _not_ how an Alpha was supposed to feel about his pack members. They must have noticed his mood, because neither one of them said anything to him or to each other as the three of them walked to lunch. When he was in line, waiting to buy his lunch, Steve saw Nancy. She was sitting at a table with her friend, Barb, eating a lunch she must have brought from home.

After paying for his lunch (and for Tommy's and Carol's too, he wasn't _that_ mad at them), Steve went over and sat next to Nancy. "Hey," he said, breathing a little easier when Nancy smiled at him. "Where have you been? I haven't seen you all day."

"Typical possessive Alpha," Barb muttered under her breath.

Nancy elbowed her friend, saying, "Shut it. I think it's sweet."

Tommy and Carol sat further down at the table, across from each other, giving Steve wary looks. Steve ignored them and asked Nancy, "So, is everything okay?"

"No," she replied, leaning closer to him. "Will Byers is missing."

Steve blinked, trying to remember who the hell Will Byers was. He remembered Tommy's Alpha-parent, Mrs. Hagen, complaining about Lonnie Byers a couple of years ago. As far as Steve could remember, Lonnie was an Alpha who had a history of getting into fights. When he'd left town, people had been relieved. Even if it had meant leaving his kids – Will must have been one of them – alone, without an Alpha to protect them.

"That's … awful," Steve said, hoping he'd guessed the right response to go with Nancy's distress. "Is he one of your friends?"

"One of my little brother's friends," Nancy said, taking a demure little bite of her sandwich. "He's the third Omega to go missing in the past year."

"Really?" The new set Steve's teeth on edge, and he scooted closer to Nancy, as if that would help him feel better. 

She didn't seem to mind. In fact, she closed the last of the distance between them, pressing against Steve's side and giving his jaw a little bump with her cheekbone, marking herself with his scent. Tommy sighed and Barb gave a little scoff. 

Jesus, it was just a little scent marking. It wasn't like he'd asked Nancy to marry him or anything. He might just have to devote some time to winning Barb over. He also needed to spend some time convincing Tommy and Carol that Nancy was the Omega for them. 

Still, Steve couldn't help himself. As they left the lunchroom, Steve held Nancy back by the hand. "Hey, let's do something tonight. Just you and me."

"I can't," she said, but at least she had the decency to look disappointed about it. "I have to study for Kaminsky's test."

Just wanting to be close to her however he could, Steve said, "Well, then just let me help you study."

Nancy rolled her eyes at him, but pulled him into a hug, taking a deep breath before rubbing her face against the scent gland under his jaw. His whole body feeling like it was on fire, Steve ducked down and pressed his lips to hers. After one kiss, Steve couldn't help but lick her lips, and she tasted the way she smelled – amazing.

"Harrington!" Coach Rafferty called out, making Steve jump back from Nancy. "Miss Wheeler. Time and place, folks!"

His face feeling red-hot, Steve gave Coach an embarrassed wave and headed out of the lunch room, walking Nancy toward her locker.

"Meet me at Dearborn and Maple, at eight o'clock," Nancy said, giving Steve another peck on the cheek. "To _study_."

Steve grinned, and he was totally late to fifth period, but it was worth it.

~*~

Barb sat next to Nancy in every class after lunch, and during every class, Barb couldn't help but notice the way Nancy smelled like Steve Harrington. She _stunk_ like him, and Barb found herself irrationally irritated by it. She was so used to Nancy smelling like _Nancy_ , that to have her smelling like anyone else was weird and off-putting.

It probably didn't help that Barb was just coming off her last heat from two weeks ago. It had been her third one since presenting the year before, and she still hadn’t had an Alpha to spend it with. Not that she wanted an Alpha to spend it with. She was good on her very own, thanks. 

Especially since Nancy _wasn't_ an Alpha.

She sure stunk like one, though. Like _him_. 

After she dropped Nancy off at home, Barb drove past her house and out past the edge of town, needing to just get away from everyone else for half an hour. Maybe longer.

There was a packet of cigarettes hidden in the glove compartment of her car, swiped from her dad's stash. Barb grabbed them and got out of the car, sitting on the hood and watching the clouds move past above her as she lit one up. 

Nancy didn't know she smoked. Not that Barb smoked all that often, or anything. It just… it helped clear her nose of the pheromones rolling off everyone at school. Those smells had always been a little difficult for Barb to process, but ever since she'd presented, it had only gotten worse.

Barb knew there wasn't anything she could do about Nancy liking Steve. It was chemistry, plain and simple. Compatible chemical signatures in their pheromones. 

If anyone was compatible with Barb, they sure hadn't made themselves known yet. Not that Barb particularly wanted to be found. She kept her scent glands scrubbed, always showering in the morning right before school. She couldn't understand the people who showered at night, letting their scents build up overnight and then leak all over the school. Or, worse yet, the people who went more than one day without showering.

How could anyone else stand it?

Well, Barb knew that as an Omega, her nose was particularly sensitive, but Alphas were sensitive to it too. Betas weren't _as_ sensitive, but they still had the instinct to be scent-marked and claimed by an Alpha. They could still tell someone's secondary gender by their smell. 

Everyone knew Barb was an Omega without an Alpha, and she had the sneaking suspicion that, unlike Nancy, everyone also knew she was likely to stay that way for who knows how long. Maybe forever.

Finishing her cigarette, Barb stubbed it out on the bottom of her shoe and got back into her car. Her parents would be waiting for her.

~*~

Nancy climbed out of her window as carefully as she could, just a few minutes before eight. She knew if she would have asked, her parents would have said she wasn't allowed to go meet an Alpha this late on a school night. But, that was why Nancy preferred asking forgiveness, rather than permission.

When she got clear of the house and no one called her back, Nancy grinned. She'd forced herself to study before dinner, so she was as ready for tomorrow's test as anything. She wasn't exactly sure she was ready for whatever Steve wanted to do in his car that night, but she had a few Alpha condoms stolen from Paul's old stash in her coat pocket. Just in case.

Steve's car was parked and waiting just shy of the intersection when Nancy got there. Grinning, she waved at Steve and got into his car, kissing him on the cheek. "Where do you want to go?"

"I know a place," he said, making a U-turn and driving for the outskirts of town.

As they drove, Nancy asked, "Is this a place you bring Tommy and Carol to?"

"Not usually," he told her. "Tommy's parents don't really care what happens in his room."

Nancy watched the dark streets of Hawkins go by as they drove. “How long have you been pack with Tommy and Carol?”

Steve shrugged a little. "I've been friends with Tommy forever. We all presented the summer after freshman year. It made sense to group up."

"I just…" Nancy said when Steve pulled off onto a gravel road. "I get the feeling they don't like me very much."

Steve pulled up next to the quarry and turned off the engine. "It was their idea to ask you out," he said. "I swear it was. I think they just didn't expect…" He smiled over at Nancy, putting his hand over hers. "They didn't expect me to like you so much."

"They didn't get jealous when you dated Amy Schmidt?" Nancy asked, tracing her fingers across Steve's. "Or Robbie Porter?"

Steve shook his head. "No, they didn't."

Nancy smiled. She liked feeling special. She leaned toward Steve and he met her halfway, pressing his lips to hers. Nancy sighed at the feeling, her whole body growing warm. Steve's scent in her nose made her mouth water, and when she reached up to cup his face, her palm dragged across the scent gland under his jaw. More of his pheromones seeped out and Nancy got the urge to press as close to him as she could.

She'd _never_ been this intensely attracted to someone, and the way Steve responded in kind, breathing her in, rubbing her scent gland with his thumb made her think he was feeling it too. Maybe it didn't matter that the rest of Steve's pack was jealous of her. Maybe they had good reason to be, if she and Steve turned each other on this much. 

Nancy wanted to get closer to Steve, but there was the gear shift and the steering wheel in the way. Maybe it was for the best. Even though they were compatible, Nancy didn't think she was _quite_ ready to sleep with him yet. But kissing like this? Kissing was _great_.

~*~

The second morning after Will was taken, Jonathan took the poster he'd made to the copy place and had a bunch of copies made. The copy place was close to school, so Jonathan decided to start there. He went inside and tacked a poster on the cork board in the main hallway. 

He heard it when Carol Perkins said, "Oh, god. Look."

Jonathan knew it was directed at him when Steve Harrington added, "Oh, god. That's depressing."

Nancy said something in a quieter voice, too quiet for Jonathan to understand, but Carol replied to her, "I don't think he speaks."

Yeah, Jonathan was used to that rumor. It didn't bother him, since it meant more people left him alone. 

The thing was… the thing was that as Jonathan was putting the last tack in the poster, Tommy Hagen said, "How much you wanna bet he killed him?" Jonathan froze, trembling with rage. It wasn't true. Jonathan hadn't hurt his little brother. He couldn't have.

But maybe he was a little responsible. Jonathan _had_ left Will alone.

"Shut up," said Steve Harrington, Tommy's Alpha, and that simple act of censure by another Alpha helped Jonathan's rage ease off a bit.

Nancy arrived at Jonathan's side in a cloud of pheromones – both hers and an Alpha's. Jonathan guessed the Alpha pheromones belonged to Steve Harrington by the way his eyes were trained on her. "Hey," she said to him.

"Oh, hey," Jonathan replied, watching Steve watch Nancy. Yeah, Steve had definitely started to make a claim on her. If Jonathan had wanted to date an Omega, which he _didn't_ , he would have wanted someone like Nancy. It made sense that other Alphas wanted her too. And it wasn't like Steve and Nancy smelled _bad_ together or anything. Their scents were definitely complimentary. And _strong_. 

Jonathan took half a step away from Nancy and tried to breathe shallowly. He didn't need everyone finding out he'd presented Alpha on top of everything going on with the search for his little brother.

"I just wanted to say, you know, um," Nancy said, looking back at her Alpha – at her _pack_ , "I'm sorry about everything."

Jonathan nodded his thanks, then tried to make his escape.

Before he could, Nancy added, "Everyone's thinking about you." She pointed to the poster he'd just hung up. "It sucks."

"Yeah," Jonathan said, realizing that she was being completely sincere. God, Steve Harrington didn't deserve her.

"I'm sure he's fine," Nancy added. "He's a smart kid." The bell rang and she looked genuinely disappointed that she couldn't keep … was she trying to _comfort_ him? "I have to go. Chemistry test."

"Yeah," Jonathan said, hoping Kaminsky would forgive him for missing it. After all, his brother _had_ been taken.

Earnestly, Nancy said, "Good luck," as she walked backward toward her Alpha and her pack.

"Thanks," Jonathan told her, giving the poster one last look to make sure it was good, and then leaving school again.

~*~

"Hey," Steve said, catching up with Nancy on the way to lunch, putting his arm around her shoulders. "So, my dad's going to a conference tonight, and all my moms went with him, so my house is going to be empty. What do you think about a little get-together? Just the pack."

"It's Tuesday," Nancy pointed out to him, sharing a look with her friend Barb. 

Steve pulled her a little closer and bumped his nose against the scent gland under her jaw. "I know that. But I really want my pack to get to know you. Away from everyone else."

Nancy blushed a little bit, and she had to be feeling it too, right? The undeniable need to be together? Making out the night before had been awesome, but it had left Steve feeling frustrated and needy. 

"I don't know," Nancy said, sitting down at one of the lunch tables. Steve straddled the bench seat right beside her, sitting as close to her as possible, breathing her in. God, if he wasn't mistaken, she was almost as close to going into heat as he was to going into rut. Maybe they'd sync up. And how nice would that be?

Wanting to reassure her that he only had her best interests at heart, Steve said, "You don't have to do anything you don't want to do, Nance." Maybe she'd just want to watch him fuck Carol. Maybe she'd want to watch how good he could make it for her. He had to pinch his leg to stop himself from licking Nancy's neck right here in the school cafeteria. "I just want to spend time with you."

"I want to spend time with you, too," Nancy insisted, leaning her head against his shoulder. "But with Will going missing, my mom is freaking out. She's not going to let me leave the house."

Steve groaned. "You can't sneak out like you did last night?"

"She almost caught me coming back in," Nancy told him, rubbing her nose against his scent gland again. "But maybe I'll see what I can do."

Feeling vindicated, Steve smiled and stood up. He cupped Nancy's face in his hands and kissed her before saying, "I've gotta go buy lunch. I'll be back in a minute."

"Okay," she said with a smile. 

Steve jogged across the cafeteria and cut into line behind Tommy. He put his arms around Tommy from behind and kissed his cheek, saying, "I think she's gonna make it tonight."

"God," Carol said from in front of Tommy, rolling her eyes. "You and Nancy are all over each other already. It's sickening, actually. I'm sickened."

"No, you're not," Steve insisted, reaching around Tommy to pull Carol into a quick kiss. "You guys are my Betas. That's not going to change."

"Yeah, Carol," Tommy said, taking the tray she handed him. "You are the one who brought up the fact we needed an Omega."

"I didn't think it was going to work," Carol said, holding her tray for the lunch servers to add food to. "But maybe it'll be good. We can't go through another rut like the last one."

"We'll try to like her," Tommy insisted, scent-marking himself against Steve, like he needed the reassurance. "For you."

"Thanks, guys. That's all I ask."

~*~

"You know they're just trying to get into your pants tonight," Barb said to Nancy as they drove home from school together. "They're gonna use you to get through Steve's rut and then they're gonna dump you."

"No they aren't," Nancy said with a scoff, but Barb thought Nancy might have been calculating the possibility a little bit in her head.

"I'm just saying, maybe there's good reason not to sneak out of your house tonight, Nance. They still haven't found Will Byers. We're not safe out at night."

"I'm not going to be alone," Nancy insisted. "The whole pack is going to come get me. It'll be totally safe."

Barb gave her friend a disbelieving look, and that's when she figured it out. "Oh my god. You totally want to have sex with them!"

Nancy went red. "No! I've only been dating them for a couple days. It's not… I can control myself."

"Uh-huh," Barb said with a sigh. "Well, don't get pregnant."

"Barb!"

Shaking her head, Barb pulled up outside Nancy's house. "I'm just saying, don't go into this unprepared. When hormones are involved, shit happens."

"Yeah, I think I've seen the same after school special as you, Barb. I'm not stupid," Nancy snapped. "Thanks for the ride."

"Nance," Barb tried to stop her, tried to apologize, but the car door slammed shut and Nancy was halfway up to her house two seconds later.

Sighing, Barb drove away from Nancy's house. 

She thought about going home, but her dad was probably there already. He was so sensitive, he'd probably recognize she was upset about something. And then he'd _ask_ her about it. God, he was so annoying.

Barb went out to the quarry instead. The sun was still up for another hour or so. Sighing, she got out, lit a cigarette, and lay on the hood of her car, staring up at the clouds in the grey autumn sky.

The cigarette blocked out all the other smells. 

It was nice. Peaceful.

Or it was until she heard quick, heavy footfalls in the autumn leaves. 

Before she could sit up and turn around to look at the newcomer, something heavy hit her head. There was a sharp pain that made her cry out, and then a dull throb that stole her sight and made her feel like she was falling.

~*~

Jonathan knew it was a long shot, but he went out to the place where Will’s scent trail had ended. Maybe he could find something, some scrap of evidence or some scent that would help find Will. It was Jonathan’s duty as Alpha of the family to protect the others. It was his duty to find Will. 

He couldn’t stand the thought of Will out there, scared. Maybe with some psychotic Alpha hurting him. 

Well, Jonathan definitely couldn’t find evidence with tears blurring his vision.

After drying his eyes, Jonathan looked at the tire tracks at the end of the scent trail. He saw the way the vehicle had left the mud headed west. Not having anything to lose, Jonathan followed the road west, walking and smelling the air like he might pick up a two-day-old scent. Not even Omega heat pheromones were that strong. 

The road led along the quarry, and Jonathan picked up traces of cigarette smoke. Oh, and a different Omega. Whoever it was had already left by the time Jonathan got there, leaving a fresh cigarette butt, and nothing else. 

This was hopeless. 

The last of the sunlight hitting the quarry cliff face was interesting enough that he stopped and took a picture. He caught the faintest scent of another Alpha, and for a second he thought it could have been the same alpha who had invaded his house, despite the obvious scent markings. 

It probably wasn’t though. 

This Alpha hadn’t marked any of the trees or rocks around the quarry. He – he smelled like a he – had just passed through sometime in the past hour or two, though it could have been more or less time depending on how often he usually bathed. 

Nothing about this was helping anything, and Jonathan’s mom needed him at home. He held onto his camera and jogged back toward his car, saying a quick prayer that she would start, which she did. 

~*~

Nancy said good night to her parents, got showered, and got dressed in date clothes instead of pajamas. She locked her door and climbed out her window, jumping onto the soft lawn below. The night was chilly and damp, so she wrapped her arms around herself as she walked away from the house. 

Steve's car was right where it was supposed to be, waiting for her with the engine still running. Nancy ducked down and saw that the others had left the passenger seat free for her, so she got in. "Hi."

"Hey, Nance," Steve said, leaning over and giving her a quick kiss. 

"Hi, Nancy," Carol said from the back seat, an odd grin on her face. Tommy waved.

"Hello," she said to them.

"So, what do you guys want to do tonight?" Steve asked as he put the car into gear and pulled out of Nancy's neighborhood. "Hang out?"

"Strip poker," Carol suggested, and Nancy thought for sure she was joking.

Except after Steve laughed, he said, "Last time we played you got mad at me and Tommy for losing."

"No," Carol said, reaching forward and poking Steve's shoulder. "I got mad at you for making out without me. Assholes."

Nancy couldn't think of a time when she'd seen a Beta treat her Alpha like Carol treated Steve, and she wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

Steve laughed again, pulling into the Loch Nora neighborhood. "It's not our fault you were still dressed. You kept cheating."

Nancy laughed a little bit at the thought of Carol cheating her way into being left out. It seemed oddly fitting. Steve smiled over at her and put his warm hand on her knee, just for a second, before putting it back on the wheel. 

And then they pulled into a driveway and Steve was leading them up the porch steps and into his house. Tommy and Carol walked right in like they owned the place, heading straight back for the living room and sprawling out together on one of the white leather couches. Nancy sat on the other couch, taking off her jacket as Steve lit the gas fireplace the couches were facing.

"Anyone want something to drink?" Steve asked, taking off his own jacket and throwing it onto the chair in the corner.

"Your dad got any beer?" Tommy asked, helping Carol out of her coat.

Steve gave Nancy a quick look, like he was trying to decide which answer to give. Eventually, he said, "Livvy always counts them. If any go missing, she'd tell Dad, and he'd kill me. So, no."

"What about soda?" Nancy asked.

Before Steve could answer her, Carol gave a frustrated groan and asked, "What about vodka? You still got that stash in your closet?"

"Guys, let's just chill, okay?" Steve said, and it had been a few years since Nancy's family had an Alpha, but she couldn't ever remember Harvey asking her other parents to do something, rather than telling them to do it.

Nancy liked the contrast.

Steve left the room, probably heading for the kitchen for drinks, if Nancy had to guess. That would have been good, except he left her alone with Tommy and Carol, and she had no idea how to talk to them. 

Tommy slouched back into the couch cushions, Carol snuggled into the crook of his arm, and asked, "So, Nancy. How's tenth grade going for you?"

It was such a normal question, asked in such an unfamiliar tone, that Nancy almost didn't know how to answer it. "Fine," she told him. "Yeah, good. I think I did pretty well on Kaminsky's test today."

"You a big fan of … _chemistry_?" Carol asked, looking up at Tommy and chuckling when she caught his eye. 

Nancy got the distinct impression that she was being made fun of. Luckily, before she had to try to come up with a way to respond that didn't make her look like more of a fool in their eyes, Steve came back into the room.

"All we had was Coke," he said, handing Nancy one of the cans first, then handing them out to Carol and Tommy. He cracked open his own can of soda and sat down next to Nancy, putting his arm on the backrest behind her. "We could watch a movie or something."

"Better idea," said Carol. "Since we're trying to get to know our lovely, young Omega here," she gave Nancy a playful smile that almost looked malicious. "Why don't we play truth or dare?"

"Fine," Steve said, "but you have to go first, Care. Truth or Dare?"

"Dare," Carol said with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. 

Steve took a long look at her before saying, "I dare you to hop on one foot while singing… Oh, what's a good one?" He looked over at Nancy, who shrugged.

Then Tommy said, "Total Eclipse of the Heart."

Chuckling, Steve pointed at Tommy and said, "Yeah. While singing 'Total Eclipse of the Heart.'"

Grinning, Carol stood up. She set her Coke down on the coffee table and lifted up her left foot. "And I need you now tonight," she sang, over-dramatically and slightly off key, as she hopped. "And I need you more than ever!" She hopped in Steve's direction, singing, "And if you only hold me tight!" Steve joined her for the last line, "We'll be holding on forever!" 

Carol tilted a little, giggling when Steve caught her and pulled her onto his lap. "Your turn, Stevie," she said, poking at Nancy a little bit with her toe and smiling. "Why don't you ask him one, Nancy?"

"Okay," Nancy said, giving Steve an assessing look. "Truth or Dare?"

"Truth," Steve replied, putting a hand onto her shoulder and rubbing with his thumb.

Trying to think of a good one, Nancy eventually asked, "Who's your celebrity crush?"

"I know this one," Tommy said from the other couch. "Farah Fawcett."

"Yeah, that's true." Steve gave a shameless shrug. "Oh, also that cute Beta from Happy Days."

"Richie Cunningham?" Carol asked with a judgmental look. 

Nancy laughed. "Really?"

"What?" Steve asked, smiling over at her, like he was daring her to call his taste into question.

Nancy was about ready to, but then Carol poked at Nancy with her foot again and said, "Your turn."

"Tommy hasn't asked a question yet," Steve pointed out. 

With a sly smile, Tommy leaned forward. "What'll it be, Wheeler? Truth or Dare?"

Nancy knew this wasn't going to end well, not with that look on Tommy's face. She didn't understand why he had such a problem with her. Their pack was incomplete without an Omega. Everyone knew that. Why did he seem so jealous?

Nancy decided that it was a bad idea to let Tommy choose a dare when he had that look on his face. "Truth," she said.

"Truth, okay," he nodded, looking away and running his tongue across his teeth. Then he looked back at Nancy and asked her, "Exactly how much do you want to jump Steve's bones?"

Nancy gasped, shocked and embarrassed, and Steve said, "Tommy, what the hell?" Turning to Nancy, he squeezed her shoulder and said, "You don't have to answer that."

"What?" Tommy asked. "I'm part of this pack, too. I think I have the right to know how things are going between you two."

"Yeah, but you don't have to be an asshole about it," Steve said, pushing Carol off his lap and standing up. "You told me you were going to _try_."

Tommy stood up too, and Nancy didn't know what the hell was going on, but it wasn't good. She gave a surprised noise, which made Steve look at her for a second, then step deliberately between her and Tommy. 

"Oh, that's just great," Tommy said.

"Tommy, I love you," Steve said, harsh disappointment in his voice, "but you're being a fuckhead. You're upsetting my Omega, which means you're upsetting me."

Tommy gave a little laugh. " _Your_ Omega? You've been dating less than a week!"

Carol spoke up before Steve could, going to Tommy. "Tommy, come on. Let's get out of here before you say something–"

"Say something?" Tommy asked, even as he took the coat Carol pushed into his hands. "Like what? What could I say? That we've been together for over a year, but Steve has _never_ looked at either of us the way he looks at _her_?"

Oh, no. Oh, no, this was so much worse than Nancy thought it was. She stood up too, saying, "I didn't mean t–"

"You didn't mean to," Tommy said in a mocking tone. "But you–"

"Okay!" Steve cried, taking a step toward Tommy. "You're right, okay? You're right. I do look at Nancy differently.” He looked back at Nancy and smiled at her, a soft, fond smile. “I can't help it. But," he turned back to face Tommy, "it was always going to happen with someone. Some _Omega_ , Tommy. You're just _not_ one. There's nothing either of us can do to change that."

"So I'm fucking worthless, then, right?" Tommy asked, shaking his head.

Steve gave an exasperated sigh. "No. That's not what I meant!" Tommy was already on his way out the door, Carol close on his heels. "C'mon, guys! You know you're my pack!"

The door closed and Steve dropped his chin to his chest. "Shit."

"I'm sorry," Nancy said, her stomach tied up into knots as she put a hand on his arm. "I seriously didn't mean to…" She sighed. "Maybe you should just take me home."

"It's not your fault," Steve said, turning toward Nancy and putting his head on her shoulder. "I'll take you home if you want, but could we just…" He sighed. "I don't know. Sit for a minute?"

"Yeah," Nancy told him, taking his hand and sitting down on the couch. Still trying to figure out what had happened, Nancy asked gently, "Is Tommy always jealous like that?"

Steve shook his head. "He never has been before. I don't get it…" He snuggled closer to her, putting his face against her neck and breathing in. "He and Carol were both complaining about having to take care of my rut by themselves. They wanted me to ask you out, so I did, and it was great. I don't get why Tommy's so mad."

"You've been close for a long time, huh?" Nancy asked, petting a hand through Steve's hair. 

"Yeah," Steve said, grasping Nancy's hand and holding it gently. "We've been friends since kindergarten." He gave a sad little laugh. "We used to play Pack, and he was always the Alpha."

Nancy chuckled too. "What did you play as? One of the betas?"

"Nah, Tommy always made me be the Omega," Steve said. "Shocked the hell out of both of us when I presented Alpha."

Softly, Nancy admitted, "Barb had this idea in her head that I was going to present Alpha, and then she and I were going to be together. She's had a hard time getting over the fact that it didn't happen."

"Why do people even try to guess ahead of time?" Steve asked. "It never seems to make any sense. It's just random. Genetics, or whatever."

He seemed so sad, Nancy couldn't help but feel for him. She rubbed her thumb against the scent gland under his jaw, hoping that would help calm him down. After a minute, Steve said, "He's right to be jealous of you. I like you a lot more than I thought I would."

Nancy smiled and admitted, "I like you a lot more than I thought I would too."

Steve took his head off her shoulder and smiled back at her before lifting his hand to her face. He gently stroked her cheek with his thumb and then leaned in, kissing her. Nancy smiled and kissed him back, liking the way he tasted like he smelled, all Alpha and sweet. 

After a sharp breath, Steve kissed her a little deeper, tasting her in turn. The smell of him got stronger, and Nancy realized she was rubbing both his scent glands with her thumbs. God, but she loved that smell, though. She wanted to breathe it in all the time, and taste it as she kissed Steve over and over again. Her body yearned to be close to his, and got restless when she wasn't close enough. 

Nancy had crawled into Steve's lap before she realized what she was doing. "Shit," she said, breaking away from his lips. "Sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"I _really_ don't mind," Steve told her, cupping her face and kissing her again. 

Nancy thought about standing up. She thought about being good and asking Steve to bring her home. But she kept just… kissing Steve instead. "Shit," she breathed against his lips, so much in need that her body _ached_. "I want… I want…"

"Yeah," Steve said, putting his hands on her hips and pulling her closer in a way that was _almost_ good enough. He kissed her neck twice before drawing his tongue across the scent gland below her jaw. They both groaned. "God, Nancy, I…" He sighed and licked her again. "You make me feel like I'm mid-rut. Damn."

"Can we…" Nancy tried to ask, her skin stiflingly hot. "Your room? Protection?"

Breathing hard, Steve nodded. He got one arm under her and stood up, carrying her a few steps before putting her down and leading her by the hand toward the stairs. At the top of the stairs, he paused, turning back and asking, "You're sure?"

"I'm sure," she told him, pushing him back so she could join him in the upstairs hallway, pulling him down into another kiss. "I'm so sure."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for this chapter: off-screen non-con is implied, and there is also reference to off-screen intentional injury of a child.

_Chapter 3_

Steve woke up when Nancy pulled away from him, already missing the feel of her skin against his. "Hey, come back."

Nancy laughed at him, pushing her hand through his hair. "It's late. I have to get home before my parents realize I snuck out."

"Okay," Steve said, heaving himself out of bed. "Alright, I'm up."

Grinning at him, Nancy asked, "Are you sure you're okay to drive? It's not that far. I could walk."

The idea of letting Nancy walk home alone at night rubbed his instincts entirely the wrong way. He shivered and shook his head. "I want to drive you. Just… gimme a minute."

"Are you always this dumb afterward?" Nancy asked, handing him his boxers. 

"No," Steve assured her, pulling them on. "This is brand new."

Nancy laughed at him again, but the way she was looking at him was kind and fond. Steve smiled at her and pulled her into a slow, gentle kiss. Like, yeah, it totally sucked that Tommy had gotten a bug up his ass about Steve's feelings for Nancy, but it was honestly kind of worth it. Sex with Tommy and Carol was always fun, but it wasn't life-altering like it had been with Nancy. He suddenly understood why Alphas so willingly fought and died to protect their Omegas. Holy shit.

By the time he was dressed and walking Nancy out to the car, he felt a little more alert, a little more like himself. 

"What are you going to do?" Nancy asked him as he started the car and pulled out of the driveway. "About Tommy and Carol?"

Steve shrugged. "I guess that's up to them. If they can't deal with my feelings for you, then that's it."

"You'd give up your whole pack for me?" Nancy asked. "You barely know me."

"Some things," he said, looking over at her in the light from the streetlamp passing by above them, "you don't have to know well to know that they're right."

Nancy chuckled and shook her head, but she was grinning.

"And," Steve said, reaching over and taking her hand, "I want to get to know you a lot better. I want to be the person who knows the most about you."

"That sounds nice," she said, squeezing his hand in return.

The bliss of holding Nancy's hand lasted less than two minutes, because as they pulled into her neighborhood, there were police cars at the end of the cul de sac, their lights flashing red and blue. "What the hell?" Nancy asked, letting go of Steve's hand and leaning forward. "I wonder what happened?"

"I'm going to pull over up here," Steve told her, "but I want to walk you the rest of the way home."

"No, Steve," she said. "I can go the rest of the way by myself. There's no reason to…"

"Nance, there’s no sneaking back in at this point. And they're gonna be able to smell me all over you," Steve pointed out. "It’s no use trying to hide it."

Nancy stuck her chin out, like she was considering trying anyway, but then she sighed. "No, you're right. I guess we have to go and face the music."

Steve got out of the car and waited for Nancy, holding out his hand for hers. They walked hand-in-hand, and it was apparent as they got closer that the police cars were squarely in front of her house. Steve watched Nancy carefully, the concern in her expression making him want to hold his breath. Trying to make her feel better, he made a joke and said, "Let me guess. You've never snuck out of the house before."

"No," she admitted, not laughing. She slowed down as they walked down the path to the front door. "What if they forbid me from seeing you?"

"They won't," Steve assured her. "At least, not for long. Not with how heat-sick you could get."

Steve couldn't be sure Nancy's parents weren't the type to make her suffer through heat-sickness as a punishment, but they didn't exactly seem the type.

Nancy gave him a surprised look. "You think we've bonded enough to cause–"

Before she could finish her thought, the front door opened. A woman with feathered blonde hair and a stern expression asked, "Where the hell have you been?"

"Mom," Nancy said, and she looked over at Steve. "I was only gone for a couple hours. Why are there police here?"

On his next inhale, Steve realized that the woman wasn't the Alpha of the family, as he'd been expecting. She was the Omega. And he recognized the moment she understood what had happened. Frowning at him, Mrs. Wheeler asked, "Steve Harrington, I presume?"

"Yes, ma'am," he said with a nod, not really sure what else to say.

To his surprise, she didn't start yelling at him. Instead, she took Nancy by the hand and said, "Barb didn't go home after school today. We were hoping you were with her."

A horrified look passed over Nancy's face, and Steve had to clench his fists to prevent himself from trying to comfort her. "What? No," Nancy said, looking past her at something in the house. "I haven't seen her since she dropped me off after school."

"Damn," Mrs. Wheeler said, turning as the newcomer approached. He was big, taller than Steve and solid, wearing a tan police uniform. 

He took one breath and then said, “I suppose I don’t need to ask what you two were up to.” Embarrassed, Steve put his hand over his face as the police officer asked, “What time did you last see Barb?”

Nancy answered right away, saying, “She dropped me off before three-thirty.” Uncovering his face, Steve watched Nancy give her mother a regretful look. “We had a fight.”

“What was this fight about?” The cop asked, jotting something down in his little notebook. 

“Just…” Nancy said, looking over at Steve. “She was jealous, I think, because I’m dating an Alpha and she’s not.”

Pointing at Steve, the cop asked, “And _this_ would be said Alpha?”

Nancy pressed her lips together and nodded. 

The cop asked, “What’s your name, son?”

He had to clear his throat before he could make his voice work. “Steve Harrington, sir.”

“When’s the last time you saw Barb?”

Steve frowned, trying to think back. “I definitely saw her at lunch. I must have seen her at the end of school, too, but I…” He turned to look at Nancy. “I was kind of distracted.”

The cop gave a little snort of laughter, before asking, “Did you know Nancy’s friend was jealous?”

Steve shrugged. “I knew she didn’t like me very much. I just figured it was because the others in my pack can be…” He looked at Nancy, trying to figure out how to say what he meant. Eventually he landed on, “Well, they weren’t very nice to her sometimes.”

“They were assholes to her,” Nancy said, and Steve realized it wasn’t just any Omega who would call her Alpha’s pack out like that. It kind of made him like her more. 

“Could they have done something?” the cop asked. “Teased her, or convinced her to run away or something?”

“No!” Steve insisted, trying to stay calm, but disturbed by how very possible the cop’s suggestion could have been. “I mean, not today at least. I was with them both from when school let out until somewhere around…” He looked at Nancy, trying to judge the time. “Like 8:30 or something, right? That’s when they left my house.”

Nancy nodded. “Yeah, that sounds right.”

The cop sighed and closed his notebook. “Okay. If this was just a teenager deciding to get away for a night or two…”

“Barb wouldn’t do that,” Nancy insisted. 

“Uh-huh,” said the cop. “Because teenagers never leave the house without telling their parents where they’re going…”

Nancy frowned, petulantly looking away from him. 

“Like I was saying. If we didn’t already have three Omegas missing in the last year, I wouldn’t be so concerned.” He pointed at Nancy, telling her, “No sneaking around! Don’t go anywhere alone. Got it?”

“Yeah, I got it,” Nancy agreed, crossing her arms over her chest.

Then the cop pointed at Steve. “You, go home. Don’t take your girlfriend out unless your parents _and_ her parents know where you’re going to be. Got it?” 

Steve nodded, figuring it probably wouldn’t help to bring up the fact that his parents weren’t going to be home until Friday. “Got it.”

“Okay.” The cop tipped his hat to Mrs. Wheeler. “Thanks for your help, ma’am. Be sure to let us know right away if anyone hears from Barb.”

Mrs. Wheeler smiled at him. “Sure thing, Jim. We’ll see you around. Good luck.”

Steve heard Nancy day under her breath, “Jim?” 

“Nancy,” said Mrs. Wheeler. “Inside right now, young lady. You’re grounded!”

Nancy frowned at her mother, eyes welling up with tears, and then just totally blatantly pulled Steve into a quick kiss before saying, “Bye,” and heading into the house.

“Uh,” Steve said, not quite sure what protocol called for in a circumstance like this. “B–”

“Steve?” Mrs. Wheeler asked.

“Yes, ma’am?”

Her tone was as domineering as he’d ever heard from an Omega. “If you value being able to see my daughter, you will have dinner with us on Sunday. Do I make myself clear?”

“Um, uh, yes, ma’am,” he said. “See you then.”

Before he got conscripted into any other family events or questioned by any other cops, Steve made his escape, jogging back to where he’d parked his car. 

Well, this sucked. Nancy’s friend was missing, along with that other kid. Jonathan Byers’ little brother. What could have happened to them? Who could have taken them? And _why_?

~*~

When Barb woke up, she was cold, and her head was pounding. “Ugh.”

“Oh, my god,” said a quiet voice. “You’re awake. Thank _god_ you’re awake!”

Barb took a few long moments to open her eyes. The room she was in didn’t have much light, but it _was_ enough to see by. The person next to her was a kid, an Omega boy, if Barb’s nose was working and hadn’t been too rattled by whatever hit her head. 

“What happened?”

“He hit you,” the boy said. “Knocked you out. There was some bleeding on your head, but I think I got it stopped.”

Barb frowned, dizzy as she sat up and tried to look around. They were in a cinderblock room with one door, no windows, and two single beds. “What is this place?”

The boy curled in on himself a little bit, before saying, “I don’t know. I don’t even know how long I’ve been here.”

Looking over at him, Barb asked, “Are you Jonathan’s brother?”

He nodded. 

“Everyone’s looking for you.”

He sniffled a little and hid his face behind his knees. “I shouldn’t have opened the door.”

Barb thought she remembered the kid – Will, wasn’t it? – talking about a ‘he.’ “Who is he?”

Will shook his head. “I don’t know. The others just call him, ‘sir.’”

“Others?” Barb turned, putting her feet on the floor, and realized that she wasn’t wearing her own clothes. She was dressed in soft, white pajamas – pants and a short-sleeved shirt. They looked pretty similar to what Will was wearing. “God, what is this?”

“I’m not sure,” Will said. “The Alpha hasn’t let me out long enough to do anything other than use the bathroom and eat. I've been able to hear the others, though. Out there.”

“So that door is…?”

“Locked,” Will said. “I tried and tried, but I couldn’t get it open. It only unlocks when he wants it to.”

“Shit,” Barb said, pushing her hand into her hair and wincing when her fingers found the split goose-egg on the back of her head. “What do you think he wants from us?”

“We’re all Omegas,” Will said, giving Barb a dark look over the tops of his knees. “What do you think he wants?”

A tight knot sank into the pit of Barb’s stomach. “Oh, no.”

~*~

Nancy ran up the stairs and through her (now unlocked) bedroom door. Barb was missing! She was missing, and Nancy couldn’t help but think it was her fault. If she hadn’t been so distracted by Steve, Barb wouldn’t have been left alone! 

Nancy wiped the tears from her face, and even though her nose was starting to run, she could still smell Steve all over her hands. How could she have been so stupid? Sure, Steve was her boyfriend, but they hadn’t been dating very long at all. Why had it been so difficult to keep her hands off him?

Well, Nancy knew why. She’d seen the video in health class and read the textbook chapter. She and Steve had compatible chemical signatures. The more compatible they were, the more difficult it was to ignore instinct and make rational decisions. 

What if Barb never got to experience what it was like? Feeling that rush of attraction for someone? Feeling the sense of satisfaction that came along with covering yourself in their scent? 

What if she was already dead? 

Nancy had devolved into full-on sobs by the time there was a gentle knock on her door. When Nancy looked up, Dina was there, a gentle smile on her face. 

The only response Nancy seemed capable of was another sob. 

“Oh, honey,” Dina said, coming into the room and sitting down next to Nancy. She wrapped her arms around Nancy’s shoulders and held on tight. “I’m sorry about your friend.”

Nancy nodded, leaning closer against Dina, one of her two Beta-parents. She knew that in other people’s families, it was most often the Omega who comforted the children. Karen could be comforting _sometimes_. Her strengths mostly laid in household organization. Dina was the one who would come home from work and sit with Nancy and her siblings, talking to them and braiding hair and eating ice cream. Dina was always the mom who had the band-aids and the hugs and kisses after injuries. Dina was the one who had kept the family together after Harvey’s death. 

When Nancy’s sobbing eased, she said, “I wish Paul was still at home.”

“Me too,” Dina whispered, snuggling Nancy and kissing her forehead. Paul was Dina’s son, not that it really mattered, but she was always closest to him. And Nancy had grown up idolizing him. Her big brother. He was three years older than her, and an Alpha, and just the most calming presence in the room. He’d gotten that from Dina, Nancy was sure. “We can call him in the morning, if you’d like. Wake his lazy ass up and make sure he goes to class.”

Nancy laughed and nodded, her forehead rubbing against Dina’s. She stopped short of marking herself with Dina’s scent, still enjoying how much she smelled like Steve.

~*~

Jonathan was still awake, even though his mother had sent him to bed hours ago, when the Chief came by with a soft knock on the door.

“Hop, what is it?” he heard Joyce ask. “What’s going on?”

“There’s been a development,” he replied, and Jonathan got out of bed, standing at his door so he could hear better. “Another Omega has gone missing.”

“Oh no,” Joyce replied. “Who is it?”

“A high schooler,” the Chief told her. “A girl named Barbara Holland.”

Jonathan took a quick, surprised breath. He knew Barb. They had a couple of classes together. Compared to most of the kids at school, she was actually pretty okay. And now she was missing too?

Jonathan just barely stopped himself from punching his bedroom wall. What sort of sick bastard could have done this?

Jonathan paced around his room for a minute before realizing there was no way he was getting any sleep. He left the house through the back door, grabbed a flashlight from the shed, and set out into the woods. Castle Byers still smelled a little bit like Will, but not as much as it should have. Jonathan scent-marked the fort, just in case Will was lost in the woods and needed help finding his way home. 

He started walking deeper into the woods, but he heard his mother’s voice call out, “Jonathan!”

Fuck. She sounded really worried. 

With a sigh, Jonathan turned around again. He scent-marked a few of the trees on the way back, and then he was back in the yard, Joyce crying out when she saw him. 

“Don’t do that to me!” she cried, pulling him into a hug. “I can’t lose you too!”

“You’re not gonna lose me,” Jonathan said, the uneasy restlessness in his chest making his skin feel too tight. “I just… I want to find him.”

“I know, sweetheart,” Joyce said, petting Jonathan’s hair. “I know.”

~*~

Barb had been sitting, still numb and locked in the room where she woke up for a good hour or two before the door made a loud click. Will sat up, saying, "The door's unlocked."

"What does that mean?" Barb asked, standing up after Will did and following him to the door. 

"It means we can use the bathroom," Will told her, opening the door and revealing another room which was also windowless, but it was finished with a wood floor, painted walls that had five other doors besides theirs, and a sitting area in the middle – two couches and a chair.

Barb asked, "What the hell is this place?"

"It's a prison," Will said, opening one of the doors. "This is the bathroom. I'd use it now if I were you. He's not going to give us another chance before morning." 

Still too in shock to feel normal things, like the need to pee, Barb motioned for Will to go first. He did so, then waited for Barb as she mechanically followed through with following Will's advice. The small bathroom was outfitted with a toilet, sink, and a polished metal mirror. Like a prison. 

A few moments after she finished and wandered back into the central room, a man's voice ordered, "Back to your room."

"What happens if we don't follow directions?" Barb asked Will. Silently, he showed her the back of his left arm. There was a thin red line there, and when she moved closer to look at it, the voice ordered again.

"Back to your room."

Glaring around, Barb put her arm around Will and guided him back into the room. As soon as the door latched, the lock clicked into place. 

"What did he do to you?" Barb asked, getting a closer look at his arm before the lights went out. "Is that a cut?"

"Yeah," he said, his voice wobbling.

Barb couldn't help but pull him into a hug, holding onto him as he cried.

"He said… He said…." Will sniffled. "The pain of the cut made me smell good."

"Oh, my god," Barb replied, trying not to gag at the thought. "Has he done anything else to you? Touched you?"

Will shook his head, his hair brushing against Barb's face as she hugged him. "He said I'm still too young. Too small. But that I'll grow."

The thought of being here long enough for Will to grow up was unfathomable.

There was just enough light coming from under the door for Barb to find her way back to the bed she'd been given. Or perhaps "assigned" would be a better word.

If Barb got any sleep after the lights went out, it was short and unrestful. When the lights came back on, she wasn't asleep any longer, though she wouldn't have minded a few more hours of darkness. Just to wallow. From the bed on the other side of the room, Will groaned. 

Now that it was morning and she'd had the long night to think over her situation, Barb made a decision. Even though Will had been in this place a few more days than she had, she decided she had a duty to protect him. He was younger, and much smaller, and even though she was an Omega too, the instinct to protect Will was stronger than Barb had been prepared for. Protecting him felt right.

In the morning, when the door unlocked, she opened it carefully and looked around before leading Will out into the open space. Barb let him use the bathroom first, and then it was her turn. While she was in the bathroom, Barb heard another click from somewhere out in the open space. Finishing up quickly, she got out there just as two other people were leaving the room next to hers and Will's. 

They were both women, both Omegas, and one moved toward them, saying, "Oh, Jesus. You're both so young."

Well, that was more concerning than Barb would have liked. 

"Where are we?" Barb asked her. "What is this place?"

"He calls it the Upside Down," the woman said with a scoff. "Things definitely work differently here than in the outside world."

"He?"

The woman shook her head. "The Alpha. We only know him as, 'Sir.'" She waved the other woman forward. "This is Molly. I'm Danielle."

"I'm Barb," she said. "This is Will."

"Did you know each other on the outside?" Molly asked, approaching skittishly. 

Barb looked at Will, who said. "Not really. Barb knows my brother."

"What about you two?" Barb asked them. "Did you know each other?"

Danielle shook her head. "No, Molly's only been here a few months. I… Well, I don't really know how long I've been here. Not as long as…" She looked at one of the other doors. "We lost a few people last winter. Some sort of illness."

"A few people?" Barb asked. "How many are here?"

"There's six of us Omegas in the Upside Down," Danielle told them. Pointing to one of the other unopened doors, she said, "Adam and Tony are in that one. Sir never lets more than four of us out at a time. Looks like they've got the later shift today."

Frowning, Barb pointed out, "You said six of us _down here_. Are there more people upstairs?"

Danielle looked over at Molly, like she was asking for help answering the question. 

"Well?" Will asked, looking back and forth between the two omegas. "Are there more people upstairs?"

"Children," Danielle said. "The children are upstairs."

"He kidnaps little kids, too?" Barb asked, figuring it wasn't out of the realm of possibility, since Sir had taken Will, and he was barely old enough to have presented. 

Danielle gave a sad laugh, shaking her head. "No. They're _his_ kids."

Before Barb had a chance to work through what that meant, she heard light footsteps on the other side of one of the closed doors. Shit. Was that him? Barb put Will behind her, but Danielle made a calming gesture. "That's just breakfast."

Confused, Barb relaxed a little, but she still kept Will behind her. One of the door locks clicked, and then the door opened. There was a boy behind the door, and a set of stairs going up behind him. The boy had brown hair that was buzzed short and he was carrying a tray covered in food. His jeans and sweater were plain and worn-in, faded and pilled like the hand-me-downs Barb always used to get from her older cousins.

"Good morning, Eleven," said Danielle, taking the tray from him. Barb was confused by Danielle's words, but from the context she guessed that maybe the boy's name was Eleven. He had moved close enough now that Barb could tell the kid hadn't presented yet. 

"Morning," he said, his voice higher and softer than Barb would have expected. He pointed to Barb and said, "New person."

"Yes," Danielle said, setting down the tray, and then turning back to Eleven, pulling him into a hug. "We have two newcomers. Barb and Will."

Will peaked out from behind Barb, giving the boy a curious look. Eleven took a sharp breath and a step back.

Furrowing his brows, Eleven said to Danielle, "That boy is..is my age. He–" Pointing at Will, Eleven looked up at one of the corners of the room, where Barb noticed a camera. "Too young, Papa! He's not for the Upside Down!"

A calm voice came over the loudspeaker. "Come back upstairs, Eleven. We can discuss this, if you like."

Eleven made a frustrated, enraged noise. "No! He comes with me! Rightside Up!"

"Eleven," said the voice, chiding and paternal. "Do you want to lose more privileges?"

The boy frowned and stomped his foot, giving Will one last look before going back to the staircase. He pulled the door closed behind him and the lock snapped shut again. Stomping footsteps, so much different than the ones that had descended the stairs, went back up them.

Danielle shook her head and reached for one of the bowls of oatmeal on the tray. "She's had a hard time since her mother passed."

Pointing to the door with the staircase behind it, Barb asked, "That was a _girl_?"

"She was kind of awesome," Will said, a slight smile on his face. 

Molly took her bowl of food, her eyes on Barb, like she was afraid Barb would try to fight her over it or something.

Danielle sat down on one of the couches. "Sir keeps their hair short. Even my cute little Sixteen." She sighed. Barb didn't know who Sixteen was, but she could take a guess, and that guess disturbed her more than she was willing to explore.

Instead, she took one of the bowls of food, picking up a spoon and prodding at the oatmeal experimentally. 

"He doesn't do anything to the food," Danielle told her. "It's always the same as what the children are eating upstairs. You can eat it."

Figuring if she was going to find a way out of this, she would need her strength, Barb took a bite.

~*~

At school on Wednesday morning, Nancy couldn’t get over the fact that Barb wasn’t sitting in class next to her. First period was so bad that Nancy spent the passing time between first and second in the bathroom, heavy sobs wracking her body. 

By the time she was able to stop crying, it was twenty minutes into second, and Nancy felt completely drained. She washed off her face with cold water from the sink and then made the decision to go to the nurse’s office. She couldn’t handle class right now. 

The bathroom was close to the front of the school, and when Nancy left it, she almost ran into Jonathan Byers. 

“Sorry,” he said, stopping short, not really meeting her eyes.

“Jonathan!” she said. “What are you doing here? They haven’t found Will, have they?”

Jonathan shook his head. Pointing to the front office door, he said, “Just picking up some make-up work.”

“Oh,” she said, disappointed. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

Finally meeting her eye, Jonathan said, “I heard about Barb. I’m sorry.”

Nancy nodded, looking around the empty hallway. “The last time I talked to her, we argued.” 

Maybe she wasn’t quite done crying. Hot, fat tears escaped her eyes and Nancy was quick to use her sleeve to dry them. 

With an awkward nod, Jonathan asked, “Was there any place she liked to go? Somewhere near the woods or anything?”

“Why?” Nancy asked, sniffling and drying the tears which, thankfully, were beginning to slow down. 

Shaking his head, Jonathan said, “It’s probably nothing.”

He made as if to walk around her, but Nancy stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Sometimes, just to get away, she’d go up to the quarry. Maybe she went there?”

Jonathan’s eyes went wide, and he turned, taking a few steps toward the door. 

“What is it?” Nancy asked, hurrying to follow him. “Jonathan!”

He slowed down a little, and asked, “Does she smoke? Does Barb smoke?”

Nancy was caught off-guard by the question. It took her a long moment to remember. “Y-yeah. Sometimes. I’ve never seen it, but I smell it on her clothes sometimes.”

“Shit,” Jonathan said, taking a few more steps before Nancy could catch him by the wrist. 

“Wait! Do you know something?”

Nervously licking his lips, Jonathan said, “Maybe. I’m not sure. I sm–” He cut himself off, shaking his head. 

"Jonathan!" Nancy cried. "Tell me!"

He let out a breath and didn't look at her as he said, "I went looking for my brother yesterday afternoon. I went past the quarry and I might have smelled some things." He looked up at her and admitted, "After the fact."

"After…?" Nancy asked, wondering how that was possible. Not that people talked about Jonathan a lot, but when they did, they referred to him as a Beta. But how could a Beta smell lingering traces after the fact? Unless…

She stepped closer to Jonathan and breathed in before he could step away, keeping an even distance between them. Nancy had been expecting to smell Omega, like Jonathan's brother. But she smelled Alpha instead. "Are you…?"

Jonathan met Nancy's eyes for one heart-stopping second before turning and leaving the school. Nancy was so surprised that she didn't think to follow Jonathan until it was already too late. She was so startled that she forgot about her plan to go to the nurse's office, and went back to class instead.

~*~

As second period English was ending, Steve caught Carol by the wrist, asking her, "Hey, why isn't Tommy in school today?"

"Take your best guess, Steve," Carol said, sounding exasperated.

"Really, what did I do?" he asked her, following when she left the classroom and joined the crowd in the hallway. "Is he seriously that pissed about Nancy? It was your guys' idea."

Carol sighed. "I don't know. We didn't expect…"

"What? You didn't expect me to like her?" Steve asked, stopping next to Carol's locker with her. 

"No, okay?" Carol told him. "She was just a cute little sophomore _nerd_. We thought it would be funny."

Steve wasn't sure what was worse, Carol not being able to see how awesome Nancy was, or the fact that she and Tommy had been playing with him for their own amusement. Was that all this ever was to them? Amusement? Having their own pet Alpha to fuck around with?

"You know what?" Steve asked her, slapping his hand against the wall of lockers in frustration. Carol jumped at the loud sound it made, her eyes going wide. "You're an asshole. Stay the fuck away from me. Both of you."

"Steve!" Carol called after him, but he was done. He was so fucking done with her and Tommy and their fucking mind games. 

He switched out his books and barely made it to third. He spent the first half of the hour unable to focus, stewing over the fact that he'd broken up his pack. Eventually, Mr. Jones put a slip of paper on Steve's desk and raised an eyebrow. Reading the slip, Steve realized it was a hall pass to the nurse's room. "What, no," Steve told the teacher. "I'm–"

"You're distracting everyone. Making them nervous," Mr. Jones insisted. "Go calm down."

Steve clenched his jaw, frowning at Jones until he realized that the teacher was right. He was in distress, and everyone knew what an Alpha in distress could do if they couldn't calm down before everything boiled over. "Fine."

"Thank you. Finish reading Chapter Eight tonight, if you would, please, Mr. Harrington."

"Sure," Steve replied, forgetting about the assignment as soon as he was in the hallway. The air out here was a little cooler, a little less packed with everyone else's pheromones. He went straight to the nurse's room, not even bothering to put his books in his locker. 

The nurse was a middle-aged Omega man, shorter than Steve, and kind of round. His name tag said Mr. Stone, and Steve figured he was probably the principal, Mrs. Stone's, Omega. Steve gave his pass to the nurse, saying, "Here."

Mr. Stone took a deep breath and set the pass in a little container on his desk with a caring smile. "C'mon, kiddo," he said, standing up and gesturing for Steve to follow him. At the other end of the health room, there was a door. Mr. Stone opened it, and Steve saw that there was an isolation room on the other side. He turned the lights on to a dim level and said, "There you go. Rest for a bit, okay? Do you have an Omega parent I could call?"

Pressing his lips together, Steve shook his head. "She's out of town until Friday."

"Ah," he said, gesturing for Steve to take a seat on the vinyl-cushioned bed in the room, which he did. "Can you tell me what set this off?"

Shrugging a shoulder, Steve set down his books, noticing the finger-shaped depressions in his notebook where he'd clutched it too tightly. "Broke up with my Betas," he admitted, flexing his fingers and clamping down on the urge to bounce his leg.

"Oh, dear," said Mr. Stone with a sympathetic sigh. "I see this a lot. High school packs. Always changing!" He gave a sad chuckle."Do you have an Omega here at school who could help you? Or do you want the shot?"

Shuddering at the thought of having a hormone-shot hangover that would last at least a couple days, Steve managed to say, "Nancy Wheeler can help."

Nodding, he said, "Okay. Sit tight. Remember your calming breaths. In for five, out for seven." Then he closed the door. At least he hadn't felt like he needed to lock it. Steve wasn't _that_ far gone yet. 

Laying down on the bed, Steve closed his eyes and put his arm over his face, blocking out all of the dim light. The room smelled faintly of disinfectant, but other than that, it was free of other smells, except the ones Steve had brought in with him. He didn't usually notice his own scent, unless he hadn't showered for a few days. Nancy's had lasted through his shower last night, or maybe he'd picked it up again from his sheets. Carol's scent was just barely still there on his fingers. Tommy's wasn't on him at all.

 _Good_.

Steve didn't want to smell like them anymore. Not when they treated him like a game, like a plaything. Like a sex toy.

Steve felt his fists clenching again. His clipped-short nails dug into the meat of his palms and the muscle holding his jaw shut started to cramp up. Fuck.

Breathing slowly helped. The lack of noise and smell and sound helped. Thinking about anything but those two assholes helped.

When the door opened, Steve recognized Nancy right away by her scent. Mr. Stone was saying, "Clothes stay on, alright? This is just about derailing a hormone attack. Nothing else. Is that understood?"

"Yeah, I understand," Nancy said, sitting down on the bed next to Steve. "Hey," she said gently.

"Hi," Steve replied, waiting until the door was closed again before he opened his eyes. "Sorry to have to pull you out of class. Especially with Barb... I wouldn't have, but my Mom is still out of town."

"It's okay," Nancy assured him, pushing her hand back through his hair. "I just… I haven't done this before, and I haven't seen it done since my dad died, so you might have to…"

"Just c'mere," Steve told her, pulling Nancy until she was lying down next to him. Then he took her hand and put it on his jaw, just over the scent gland on that side. Nancy got the idea and started rubbing the spot, scent-marking him right back when she pressed her jaw against Steve's shoulder. "Thanks."

"Do you want to tell me what's wrong?" she asked, and he could tell she was watching his face.

Steve breathed deeply for a few more seconds, and then admitted to her, "Carol said she got me to ask you out as a joke. She– _they_ thought it would be funny."

"What?" Nancy asked, propping herself up on her elbow and looking down at Steve. "Why would asking me out be funny?"

"I don't know," Steve scoffed. "Because they're assholes. I can't believe I ever…" He sighed again before telling her, "I broke it off with them."

"Oh, Steve," Nancy said, her voice soft, but her touch strong and steady. "That's what set you off?"

Looking away from her, he nodded. "Mr. Jones had to tell me to leave class. I didn't even realize I almost…" He shuddered, but let Nancy pull on his face until he was facing her. 

"I'm glad you trust me to help you through this," she said. 

"Yeah?" Steve asked, running his fingers through the hair she had up in a ponytail. "It's not asking too much too quickly? I only asked you out last Thursday."

"It's a little quick," Nancy agreed. She smiled. "But some things you don't have to know well to know they're right."

Recognizing his words from the night before, Steve chuckled. He buried his face in Nancy's neck, his hormones settling back to normal with every breath. "This pack is just you and me now."

Like she was changing the topic, Nancy asked, "Do you want me to switch, rub the other side for awhile?"

What? Steve could ask Nancy to help him through a hormone attack, but he couldn't call her pack? Not wanting to press the conversation while he was still feeling on the edge of losing it, Steve nodded. "Sure."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Mention of off-screen child abuse and off-screen sexual violence.

As Jonathan left the school, his face felt red with embarrassment. Nancy Wheeler had found out about him. He wondered if she would keep it to herself. She'd always seemed like a nice, decent person. Then again, from the smell of her, she'd gone and joined Steve Harrington's pack. Jonathan couldn't say he'd ever had a pleasant interaction with them, and maybe Nancy would end up following suit.

Whatever. There were more important things to worry about. 

Jonathan might have information that could help find Barb. If it could help find Barb, then maybe it could help find Will, too. He went from the school directly over to the Police station on Main street. He was still on the sidewalk, heading for the door, when Hopper's truck pulled up. 

When Hopper got out of his truck and saw Jonathan waiting for him, he gave a heavy sigh. "Tell your mother that I am still getting the reports from last night's search. I will come by and update her as soon as I have any news."

"She didn't send me," Jonathan told him. "I think I know where Barb Holland was taken from."

Hopper turned on his heel. "What?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at Jonathan. 

Shrugging, Jonathan shrugged. "I went for a walk yesterday afternoon. Clear my head from all the…" He gestured to the police station. "I ended up over by the quarry."

Nodding expectantly, Hopper said, "I know it. What did you find?"

"I just… I thought I smelled the same Alpha from the house," Jonathan looked down, wishing the smell wasn't so firmly planted in his memory. "I told myself I was just imagining things, but then I talked to Nancy. She said Barb sometimes goes to the quarry to be alone."

"Fuck," Hopper said, getting back in his truck. "Thanks, kid."

He pulled away from the curb before Jonathan could finish telling him about the cigarette smoke. Sighing, Jonathan got in his own car and followed Hopper to the quarry, parking right behind him on the side of the gravel road.

"Why are you here?" Hopper asked him with a deep frown. "This is a police matter, Jonathan. I can't–"

"I can show you which cigarette butt is Barb's," Jonathan told Hopper, because like hell was he letting this go. If Jonathan could do anything to help find Will and Barb, he was going to do it. "I can show you where her car was parked. I can show you what direction the Alpha smell was coming from."

Hopper made a grumbling sound, staring Jonathan down. He might have been bigger and stronger, but Jonathan was an Alpha too. He stared right back at Hopper, not giving an inch. Eventually, Hopper caved first. 

"Fine. But you will walk _exactly_ where I tell you to, and nowhere else. Do you understand?"

Jonathan nodded.

Tilting his head toward the quarry, Hopper led the way, slowing down when the water came into view. "She was parked somewhere around here?"

"She drives a Cabrio, right?" Jonathan asked. 

Hopper took a notebook out of his shirt pocket, flipped through it for a few seconds, then said, "Yeah. 1981, powder blue."

"Cabrios smell… They smell…" Jonathan couldn't quite find the words to describe the particular mix of metals, plastics, and exhaust that made cars smell different from each other. Eventually he went with, "German. Smells German. It had to have been parked there." He pointed.

"Damn bloodhound," Hopper muttered, shaking his head. "Stay right there."

Nodding, Jonathan watched as Hopper picked his way carefully across the flat gravel area that sloped gently down toward the flooded quarry. After a moment, he said, "Stay right there still, but I've got tire tracks pulling in, and then back out again. Distance between them's consistent with a little car like the Cabrio."

Hopper crouched down, looking at something and nodding. Then he turned back to Jonathan. "Any idea where this Alpha of yours came from?"

"That way," Jonathan said, pointing to the right of the quarry. "The woods."

Hopper made another grumbling noise, saying something under his breath that Jonathan couldn't quite catch from this far away. He stepped carefully around the place where Barb's car had been parked, and then started toward the woods. He got about halfway there, when Jonathan started to hear someone coming through the woods, and quickly. 

Hopper didn't seem to hear it!

What, was he deaf _and_ noseblind? Some Alpha he was.

Not wanting to warn the person running through the woods and scare them off before Hopper could catch them, Jonathan moved as silently as he could. He gave the tire tracks a wide berth and made his way to Hopper, waving his hands. Hopper didn't notice him until he was just twenty feet away. He opened his mouth, but Jonathan put his finger up to his lips.

Hopper scoffed and gave him a questioning look that definitely meant, "What the hell?"

Jonathan cupped his hand around his ear and pointed toward the woods. The person was still moving quickly, seemingly unaware of how much noise they were making.

Hopper pointed and nodded, then he caught Jonathan's attention and mouthed, "Alpha?"

Jonathan took a deep breath, but he didn't catch anything like the Alpha he'd smelled the night before. He shrugged and shook his head.

Nodding, Hopper put his palm to Jonathan in a "stop" gesture, and used his other hand to take his weapon out of its holster. Jonathan froze, trying not to make any noise. What if it was the Alpha? Would Jonathan have to fight him, or would Hopper be able to handle it by himself?

He supposed it depended on the Alpha's size, and smarts.

The person crashed through the underbrush, getting closer and closer. Hopper moved silently until he was hidden mostly behind the trunk of a tree. Jonathan got to the side, too, taking cover near some bushes. Not five seconds later, a figure crashed out of the underbrush, looking around and freezing when he saw Hopper. It wasn't the Alpha. It was a boy, about Will's age, but if he went to school with Will, Jonathan didn't recognize him.

He looked Hopper up and down and then ran directly toward him, despite the gun in Hopper's hand. When he got closer, he asked, "Police?"

"Y-yeah, yes," Hopper said, putting his weapon down. "I'm police. Do you need help?"

The boy nodded, looking back at the woods fearfully. 

Hopper closed the distance and put the boy behind his back, raising his weapon again. He asked the boy, "You see my friend over there?"

The boy looked in Jonathan's direction. "Yes."

"Is that your brother?"

"No," said the boy, but after sneaking a quick look at the woods, he left Hopper's shadow and hurried toward Jonathan. "You look like him."

"Like who?" Jonathan asked, crouching down in front of the boy to meet him eye-to-eye. "Do you know Will? My brother, Will?"

The boy nodded. "Will and Barb. Newcomers."

"Holy shit," Hopper said, walking backward toward them. "Boy? Is someone after you?"

The boy nodded, wide-eyed and catching his breath. "Papa will send One and Two. Once they notice I'm gone."

"One and Two?" Jonathan asked, but Hopper was urging them back, away from the woods and toward his car. 

"Get in," he said, opening the passenger side door. "Both of you." 

"But my–" Jonathan tried to say, but Hopper cut him off.

"We'll come back and get your car. When I have more backup than a couple of teenage boys."

The boy accepted Jonathan's hand, getting up into the car, and scooting over to make room for Jonathan. As soon as Jonathan got in and closed the door behind him, Hopper was rounding the truck and getting into the driver's seat. He started the engine, put the truck into gear, and pulled away.

As Jonathan helped the boy with his seat belt, he asked, "What's your name?"

"Eleven," he said, clicking closed his seat belt buckle and pulling the strap to tighten it across his slim frame. "And I’m not a boy. I'm a girl."

"Um," Jonathan said, reaching for his own seat belt and putting it on just before Hopper took a turn just a little too fast. "Okay. I'm Jonathan."

"You're an Alpha," she said, before looking over at Hopper. "You too."

"Yeah," Hopper said. "What about the people you said were after you? Papa? One? Two? Are any of them Alphas?"

Eleven nodded. "Papa and One. Two is a Beta."

If One and Two were names of people, were there other people to go with numbers three through ten?

"Are these people…?" Jonathan tried to ask, sharing a glance with Hopper. "Are they your family? Your pack?"

"What is pack?" Eleven asked, frowning at Jonathan. 

"Family," Jonathan told her. "Alpha, Beta, and Omega parents and their children. Pack."

Shaking her head, Eleven said, "Family is Papa and children. Omegas belong in the Upside Down."

"Upside…?" Hopper asked. " _What_?"

Eleven looked down at her hands and sniffled. "Papa put a child in the Upside Down. Brought him from outside and put him with the others. It's not right. He shouldn't be there. Even if he does smell like Omega."

"Will?" Jonathan asked, and Eleven nodded. 

"You're right," Hopper said, "he shouldn't be there." Hopper pulled over on the side of the road, parking the truck before turning to face Eleven more fully. "It's my job to help Will. To get him out of there. Do you understand?"

Eleven nodded.

"I'm going to need your help, though," Hopper said. "I'm going to need you to tell me everything about your Papa."

Eleven bit her lip and said in a soft voice, "I'm not supposed to tell."

"No, you _are_ supposed to tell," Hopper told her. "You've got a good gut, kid. You know that what your Papa is doing is wrong. If you tell me everything, I can get Will and everyone else out of there. You'll never have to go back to him again. Understand?"

"Never?"

"Never," Hopper told her, with such pure conviction in his voice that Jonathan felt the backs of his arms pebble with goosebumps.

Eleven nodded slowly. "Okay."

"Okay," Hopper repeated, turning back toward the road and putting the car back into gear.

~*~

When Steve fell asleep and seemed like he was going to stay that way for awhile, Nancy crawled back over him and stood up. Finding a soft blanket folded up on the end of the bed, she unfolded it and laid it out over Steve to keep him warm. Looking down at him, she wasn't quite sure how she felt about being the only other member of his pack. It seemed like a lot of responsibility, especially since he was used to having both Carol and Tommy. As amazing as the night before had been, Nancy wasn't sure she wanted to be solely responsible for helping Steve with his next rut. 

Maybe it would be okay. She definitely didn't mind being all covered in his scent like she was right now.

Giving Steve one last kiss on his forehead, Nancy left the isolation room, telling the nurse, "He fell asleep."

"Good, good," Mr. Stone replied in a soft voice. Writing on a pink hall pass, he said, "Thank you for your help, Nancy. Your Alpha should be as good as new by the end of the school day."

Nancy almost argued that he _wasn't_ her Alpha, but she supposed at this point, there was no denying that he really _was_. He'd broken up with the rest of his pack _for her._ He'd dropped his oldest friend _for her_. No matter how you looked at it, Steve had just _handed_ her a lot of responsibility. She supposed the question now was whether or not she wanted to accept that responsibility.

She wanted, more than just about anything else, to be able to talk it over with Barb, but she was _missing_. Barb was missing, and so was Jonathan's little brother, and no one knew where they were.

Nancy ate her lunch sitting in the hallway under her locker. She didn’t want to go into the lunch room without Steve. Without Barb. Especially if Carol and Tommy were going to be there. She couldn’t handle it. Not now. Not today. 

She made it through her afternoon classes, but just barely, her mind wandering off to thoughts of Barb mostly, but also sometimes Steve. After eighth, she hurried back to her locker, intending to check on Steve before she had to go. 

Instead, her mother was waiting for her. “Mom? What’s going on?”

Sighing, Karen said, “Chief Hopper has asked me to bring you to the station to answer a few questions.”

A few questions? What sorts of questions? Did he think she had anything to do with Barb’s disappearance? “Oh. Okay.”

“Why do you smell so strongly like Alpha?”

Embarrassed by the implication in her mother’s voice, Nancy put the books and folders she needed into her bag as she replied, “Not that it’s any of your business, but Steve had a hormone attack today. His mom is out of town, so I had to help him through it.”

“Oh,” Karen said, obviously caught off-guard by Nancy’s answer. “Did you have to miss much class?”

Nancy dropped her backpack and turned to her mother, her throat thick with grief, “My best friend is _missing_ and my boyfriend almost had a melt-down today, and _you’re_ worried about me missing a little bit of class? God, mom! It’s just class! Can’t I just have _one day_ to fucking fall apart?”

“Hey, hey, shh,” Karen said, pulling Nancy in and holding her in a tight hug as the tears overwhelmed her. Again.

A minute later, there was another hand on her shoulder, and Nancy didn’t have to look up or even be able to smell all that well through her stuffed-up nose to realize that it was Steve. Nancy leaned toward him and Karen let her go. As soon as Nancy was in Steve’s arms, a sense of calm washed over her. 

Steve traced her left scent gland lightly with his thumb, just barely activating it, but as her scent mingled with his, everything began to seem a little more right. The sense of belonging overtook her and she realized _this_ was what it meant to be pack with someone other than parents and siblings. “Are you okay now?” he asked softly.

Nancy nodded, then told him about the police wanting to talk to her. 

“Do you want me to come with?” Steve asked, brushing Nancy’s scent gland with his thumb again.

Nancy thought about how awkward it would be to sit around for who knows how long with her boyfriend and her mother. She shook her head. “Go home and get some rest. Try not to have another attack.”

Steve chuckled a little and kissed Nancy’s cheek. “Okay, Nance. Call me later?”

Nancy nodded. “Okay.”

Feeling better, Nancy went back to her locker and her mother, and finished putting her books in her bag. Karen didn't say anything else until they were in the car and driving away from the school. "Your dad and I were like that," she said with a sigh.

Nancy wasn't sure she wanted to respond. When it came to Karen, it was always a bit of a crap shoot what sort of discussion you were about to get into. Still, Nancy could tell she was trying. Maybe Nancy could try a little bit too. "Like what?"

"Close like that, right away," Karen replied. 

Nancy thought about this for a moment, recognizing the parallel with her own situation, and asked, "Were Ted and Dina jealous?"

"Not really," Karen said. "I mean, you can ask them, but I don't think so. They'd been looking for an Omega for so long at that point. Everything just sort of fell into place."

Nancy nodded, looking out her window as they turned onto Main street. "Steve brought me in and his whole pack just… fell apart. Why would he do that? Why would he choose me over them?"

Karen sighed. "I think maybe Steve is the only one who can answer that question."

"But…" Nancy said, trying to find the right words. "Alphas have stronger instincts than the rest of us, right?"

With a snort, Karen shook her head. "That's a load of bullshit."

"Mom!" Nancy cried, unable to hold back a surprised laugh at hearing her mom swear.

"I'm sorry, but it is," Karen insisted. “It’s a lie that Alphas spread so they wouldn’t have to be held responsible for their actions, like the rest of us.”

Nancy thought about this, wondering if her mom was right. “What about hormone attacks? We don’t get those.”

“Alphas have a slightly different biology, that’s true,” Karen said. “And it can go haywire a little more easily, but it’s not true that they’re the only ones who get hormone attacks. What do you think heat-sickness is? Even Betas can get them. They just look a little different.”

Giving her mother a side-long look, Nancy said, “I really doubt Ted has ever had one.”

Karen laughed as she parked the car. “Not since I’ve known him, no. But he’s a good Beta. Solid and dependable. We’re lucky to have him.”

Nancy wondered if the real reason they were lucky to have Ted in their pack was because of his parents’ money. She didn’t say this out loud, instead following her mother into the police station. Before Karen could ask the woman at the front desk for directions, she stood up and said, “Come on back, you two.”

As the woman showed them back, Nancy noticed Jonathan by one of the desks, playing cards with some kid. She didn’t know why the sight surprised her so much. Jonathan always seemed so aloof and distant from everyone else. She supposed she assumed he was like that with everyone, including kids.

Jonathan looked up and met Nancy’s eye, just for a second, and she had to fight the urge to go over there and smell him. Just to check that her nose hadn't been playing tricks on her that morning. That was the only reason. A woman who must have been Jonathan's mother joined them then, petting Jonathan and then crouching down and saying something to the kid. Nancy wondered if this was kind of what their family had looked like before Will had gone missing.

Actually, who was that kid? Nancy didn't recognize him.

Nancy realized that she was staring, so she looked away from them and followed her mom into the Chief's office. 

"Thank you for coming by," the Chief said, sighing and rearranging the papers on his desk. "I just have a few things I want to follow up on." He flipped through a notebook, and then asked, "Did Barb spend time at the Sattler Quarry when she wanted to be alone?"

A hard knot forming in her stomach, Nancy found herself reluctant to answer the question. What if the chief told Barb's parents? What if she got in trouble? She'd asked Nancy not to say anything about it. But then Karen put her hand on Nancy's wrist and nodded encouragingly. Right. Getting Barb back safe was more important than the possibility that Barb might be angry with her for telling.

Nancy nodded. "Yeah. She used to bike up there a lot, especially after… after she presented," Nancy said. "I went with her sometimes. It's nice out there. Peaceful and quiet."

"Secluded," the Chief said, somewhat under his breath. "Would she have driven her car to the quarry, now that she has her license?"

Nancy nodded. "She was _so_ over biking everywhere." 

Hopper nodded. He flipped through a few pages of his notebook and then looked Nancy right in the eye. "Did Barb ever smoke?"

Nancy had to remind herself that it was more important to get Barb back than to keep her secrets. She nodded.

"Do you know what brand?"

Nancy shook her head, but she said, "The smoke on her clothes smelled the same as the ones her dad smokes. I don't know if they were the same, but…" She looked over at her mom, who nodded gently. "I figured that's where she was getting them. She didn't know any of the kids who… who get that kind of stuff."

"Do you know those kids?" Hopper asked her.

Nancy shook her head. 

He nodded and sat back in his chair, the Alpha scent of him wafting over a bit. "We caught a break in the case, but I need it kept quiet, alright? I can't have this leaking to the press, possibly endangering people. If I tell you what's going on, can you keep it to yourself?"

Nancy nodded, looking over at her mom, who was nodding too.

The Chief sighed and then said, "We have a witness. A kid who escaped the place where we think Will and Barb are both being held."

Nancy couldn't help but turn a bit in her chair, gesturing out to the bullpen where she'd seen Jonathan. "The kid that was out there?"

Hopper nodded. "She says she's the daughter of the Alpha who took them. She ran away when she realized what he'd done."

"So Barb is still alive?" Nancy asked, breathless with anticipation.

Hopper nodded. "As of breakfast time this morning. The problem we're having now is triangulating the location. She couldn't point it out on a map of the area." Shaking his head, he said, "I don't think she's been given any formal education."

"That poor girl," Karen said with a saddened pout. She reached across the desk and touched Hopper's hand. "Where is she staying?"

"I…" the Chief replied, furrowing his brow at Karen. "I hadn't thought that far ahead. But you're right." He sighed. "You're right. I've got to put her up someplace at least for the night. Until county CPS can find a placement for her."

“You could place her with us. I’m an emergency foster parent,” Karen said, which made Nancy turn and look at her in surprise.

"Since when?" Nancy asked.

Karen pressed her lips together for a moment, and then replied, "Since Will Byers came over to our house with finger-shaped bruises on his arms two years ago. By the time I was approved, Lonnie had left, and Will was no longer in danger."

"Not from Lonnie, anyway," Hopper said under his breath. "I'd want to station a uniformed officer outside your house while she's there, just in case. You good with that?" he asked Karen.

She nodded. "Of course. We don't…" Karen looked away from the Chief as she admitted, "We don't have an alpha anymore. Some extra protection would be lovely."

Hopper said, "Alright. Not having an Alpha in the house might actually be beneficial, if it helps her open up. Let me introduce you to her. While you guys get acquainted, I'll call CPS and clear the plan with them."

Nancy followed her mom and the Chief out to the bullpen, standing awkwardly off to the side, watching Jonathan try not to look at her. Seriously, what was his problem?

"Eleven," Hopper said. "This is Mrs. Wheeler. You might be staying at her house while we work on finding your dad’s house, okay?"

Her eyes huge, Eleven nodded, saying quietly to Karen, "Hello."

"Hi, sweetie," Karen said, giving Joyce a fond half-hug as well. "This is my daughter, Nancy."

Eleven looked at Nancy for a second, before getting to her feet suddenly. "Did an Alpha hurt you?"

"No," Nancy said with a confused laugh. "No, not at all. I'm fine."

"Oh," Eleven said, curling in on herself. "Sorry."

"Sweetie," Joyce asked, taking Eleven's hand. "Why would you think Nancy was hurt?"

Eleven shrugged and looked away. 

Trying to figure it out, Nancy asked, "Do you know an Alpha who hurts Omegas? Who hurts Omegas when he scent-marks them?"

Nodding, Eleven said, "Papa."

At the thought of some Alpha hurting Barb, hurting Will, Nancy couldn't help but start crying again. Covering her face with her hands, she said, "Excuse me," and left the police station. She wanted to get in her mother's car, but she didn't have the keys, so she ducked into the alley between the police station and the sporting goods store. Nancy leaned against the police station wall and tried to catch her breath, tried to _stop fucking crying_.

A minute later, a voice said, "Um, Nancy?"

She looked up and saw Jonathan standing at the entrance to the alley. Nancy would have brushed the tears out of her eyes, except his eyes were red-rimmed and watery too. "Hi."

"Hi," he said, taking another step into the alley. "I'm sorry I couldn't find her yet."

Nancy scoffed and shook her head. "It's not your responsibility, Jonathan. You're not the one who snapped at her and made her feel like she had to go out there all alone."

"No, I'm the one who left his just-presented Omega brother at home alone," Jonathan said, leaning against the wall next to Nancy and wiping the tears off his face. "I thought… I thought we found this girl, and that would be it. She would show us where they are. But she just… she doesn't know."

Nodding her head, Nancy wiped her face with her jacket sleeve. "No chance of following her scent back, is there?"

Jonathan shook his head. Pointing up at the sky, he said, "It's gonna start raining before the dog teams get here."

Nancy clenched her jaw, but it didn't quite stop the wobbling of her lower lip. "What Alpha can stomach _hurting_ an Omega? I just don't… I don't understand."

“Yeah, I don’t either,” Jonathan said, wiping his face with his hands. “It’s repugnant. But there are… Some _do_. That's why normal Alphas protect their pack.”

Nancy took a moment to look over at Jonathan. Her curiosity got the better of her, and she asked, “When did you present?”

He was silent for a long time, looking down at his shoes, his arms wrapped around himself. Eventually, he said, “July.”

She wondered how hard that was for him to admit, and figured she probably owed him an admission in kind. “I did at the end of August. I thought I was going to miss the first day of school.”

Jonathan gave a little breath that could have been a laugh. “Smells like you’re all set with your Alpha for next week.”

“What’s next week?” Nancy asked, watching as Jonathan blushed and ducked away from her. 

“Sorry. Never mind.”

Nancy frowned at Jonathan, and when he turned to leave, she lunged to grab his arm and keep him from escaping. “Wait!”

“What?” Jonathan all but growled. 

“You can tell I’m going into heat next week?”

Looking away, ashamed, Jonathan said, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to–“

Nancy cut him off. “No, I mean, can any Alpha tell?”

Nodding carefully, Jonathan told her, “Most should, yeah.”

“From how far away?” Nancy asked. 

“I…” Jonathan finally looked Nancy in the eye. “Why do you want to know?”

“This Alpha is collecting Omegas, right?” Nancy asked. “What if we set a trap for him?”

“And use what as bait?”

Nancy raised an eyebrow at Jonathan. “Me.”

She saw the moment he understood her meaning. Nancy thought for sure he was going to dismiss her outright, but instead, he took a sharp breath, then another. Then Jonathan asked, “If...if the trap works, what do we do with him? The Alpha?”

Nancy pictured a faceless Alpha hurting Barb, making her cry, hurting Will. She bared her teeth and said, “We either bring him to Hopper, or we kill him.”

Nancy watched Jonathan’s eyes go darker as he flared his nostrils. His voice sounded thick when he asked, “How? What if he has a gun or something?”

Thinking about Harvey’s old chest of Vietnam things in the attic, Nancy said, “I might have a solution. Meet me at my house after school tomorrow.”

Jonathan nodded. “Okay. But only if Hopper hasn’t found them by then.”

Nancy nodded back. “Okay.”

~*~

Barb nervously watched Danielle pull a needle and thread through the shirt in her hands, mending a broken button. It was a man’s shirt, and Barb was fairly certain it belonged to the Alpha. “Why are you doing that?” she couldn’t stop herself from asking. “Why are you helping him?”

“Mostly to alleviate the boredom,” Danielle replied, pulling the needle back through the other way. “If we’re good, he lets us have books, too. I’m halfway through Gone With the Wind.”

“What does he think is good behavior?” Barb asked, wrapping her arms around herself. It was slightly too cold for the short-sleeved shirt she was wearing to keep her comfortable. Danielle seemed used to it somehow. Molly had been hiding in her room most of the day.

Danielle sighed. “It’s not easy. Yes, sir. Of course, sir. I’d be happy to, sir.”

“Guy sounds like he has control issues.”

Danielle gave a sigh and a long blink, but she didn’t respond. Her eyes flicked over to the camera in the corner of the room. 

Barb understood. He could see them. From the way Eleven had spoken to him that morning, it was likely he could hear them too. Definite control issues. 

Danielle sighed again. “It seems like it should have been lunch time by now. If we’re good, he lets us see our kids for an hour or two after lunch.”

Feeling sick to her stomach, Barb asked, “How many kids do you have?”

“Three,” Danielle replied, “but I love most of the others as if they were my own. Especially since we lost Terry and Deo.”

“Other Omegas?”

Danielle nodded. 

“Are all the kids named after numbers?” Barb asked, and Danielle nodded, wrapping the thread around the button a few times.

Lowering her voice, she said, “I’m fairly certain Sir is running a psychological experiment on them. The numbers instead of names, the identical buzzed haircuts.” She shook her head.

“Which ones are yours?” Barb asked her. 

“Two, Nine, and Sixteen.”

Shivering, Barb asked, “How old is Two?”

Shaking her head, Danielle said, “I’m not sure. I keep...losing track, and he’s not allowed to tell me, but…” She smiled, and Barb recognized it as the smile of a proud mother. “He’s tall, taller than me. He presented Beta a while ago, probably at least a year, maybe two.”

“So, somewhere around my age,” Barb said. “I’m sixteen.”

With a sad smile, Danielle reached over and brushed a curl of Barb’s hair back, away from her face. “You shouldn’t be here, honey. You should be studying for school with your friends.”

Slumping in on herself a little bit more, Barb said, “I’m not sure I have any friends who would miss me.”

“Oh, I’m sure that’s not true,” Danielle insisted, drawing the needle through the button and the fabric before starting to tie off the thread. “Everyone has at least _one_ friend.”

Shaking her head, Barb admitted, “She got a boyfriend, and I was jealous. We had a fight.”

Danielle made a sympathetic noise and set down the mended shirt. She reached over and took Barb’s hand. “I am absolutely sure that your friend cares that you’ve been taken. Fight or no fight.”

Barb nodded, but then she heard footsteps on the stairs. When the door opened, it was another one of the children, with buzzed hair. This one had dark skin and eyes, and though she was wearing very masculine clothes, it was apparent from the shape of her body that she was female. She smelled like a Beta.

“Eight!” said Danielle, standing up to take the tray from her. “What’s going on up there? Lunch isn’t usually this late.”

Carefully, Eight said, “Eleven ran away this morning. Sir has everyone looking for her.”

"Oh, dear," Danielle said, putting a hand over her mouth. "Jesus, what in the world possessed that child to run, knowing…"

Barb didn't like the way Danielle trailed off. "What? What's going to happen to her?"

"Nothing good," Eight said, clutching her left wrist close to her chest. "It's been hours, though. Maybe we won't find her at all."

A look passed between Danielle and Eight that Barb didn't understand. It was almost conspiratorial, and Barb realized as much as she and the other Omegas here in the Upside Down were prisoners, so were the children living in the Rightside Up.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for this chapter: sexist language, the characters overhear off-screen torture of a minor character.

Steve watched Nancy's mom take her away from school, and he… He didn't know what to do with himself. His arms felt  _ empty _ without Tommy and Carol in them. He could feel the way he was still dropping from the hormone attack earlier, and the uncomfortable feeling of his body readjusting almost had him heading to Tommy's house to apologize.

Almost, but not quite.

He went home instead, daring himself to sit with this feeling for longer than he had in the past. Before, he'd start feeling fragile like this and he'd go straight to his betas. He could overlook all sorts of shit, if only they'd make him feel better when he needed it. 

The house was still too quiet without anyone around. Steve was a quarter of the way into a pint of chocolate ice cream when the phone rang. He sighed and picked it up, kind of wishing it was Nancy, "Hello?"

"Stevie! I'm so glad you're home!"

"Hi, Livvy," Steve replied, lifting himself up to sit on the counter next to the phone. "How's the trip?"

Steve's Beta-mom paused for a second, then she asked, "Are you okay? Did something happen?"

He thought about lying, and telling her he was fine, even though he was fairly certain that she would know something was up as soon as she got home on Friday. He sighed and admitted, "My pack broke up and I had a hormone attack at school."

"Shit," she said, sighing. "Did they have to give you the shot?"

Speaking through another bite of ice cream, Steve told her, "No. That new Omega I've been seeing, Nancy, helped me through it."

"Well, that was sweet of her. God," she scoffed, "I wish we were there to cuddle you, Stevie. You sound like you need it."

"Yeah, I kind of do," he told her. "But, I understand why you went with him. Couldn't take the chance this close to his rut. Not again."

Olivia hummed in agreement. "Not again. Not if we want our pack to survive it."

Steve shrugged. He thought, not for the first time, that the pack might be better off with a different Alpha. Fred wasn't… Well, he was an asshole. He'd pretty much ignored Steve his whole childhood, only really starting to acknowledge him after Steve had presented Alpha. Like he hadn't had any value before then. 

"Are you going to be okay until we get home on Friday? Do you want me to call you out of school?"

The thought of staying here in the house, all by himself, rather than going back to school, where Tommy and Carol were both bound to be tomorrow, felt a lot like six of one, half a dozen of the other. "Nah," he decided, looking at his empty backpack next to the kitchen table. "I should go. I already missed most of my classes today."

"Okay, baby," Olivia said. "Here, Harriet wants to talk to you, too."

"Bye, Livvy."

After speaking with all three of his moms, first Olivia, then Harriet, then Sam, Steve felt a little bit better. He heated up one of the meals Harriet had left for him and ate it in front of the TV.

Feeling wiped out, Steve decided to go to bed early. Before he fell asleep, he picked up the phone next to his bed and started dialing Tommy's number, just out of habit. 

"Shit," he said, hanging up the phone before he got to the last two numbers. He had to look up at the ceiling and breathe slowly for a good two or three minutes so he wouldn't do something stupid. Like cry. Or spiral into another hormone attack.

Then he had an idea.

Steve picked up the phone and dialed Nancy's number instead of Tommy's. It rang a few times before a man answered, "Hello?"

"Hi. Can I– I mean, may I talk to Nancy, please?" Steve asked, closing his eyes and feeling more than a little stupid. 

Mr. Wheeler gave a frustrated sigh, but then he said, "Just for a minute. Things are…" And then there was a rustling on the other end, like he'd covered the receiver with his hand. 

A minute later, Steve heard from a distance Nancy shouting, "I've got it, Ted! Thanks!" Then she brought the phone closer and said, "Hello?"

Her voice in his ear made Steve instantly calmer. "Hey," he said with a smile on his lips. "How did everything go? Are you okay?" 

"It's...okay," Nancy said, and Steve realized he was rubbing his own scent gland with his thumb. Jeez, he hadn't had _that_ habit since he was six. "I'm okay."

Putting his hand down and fisting it in his sheets to keep it away from his jaw, Steve said, "You don't sound okay. Do you want me to come over?"

"No, I'm…" Nancy answered, then sighed. Then she told Steve about the kid sleeping in her basement for the next night, or maybe more.

Blinking at the story, Steve couldn't think of anything to say other than, "Wow. Suddenly my parents don't seem so bad anymore."

Nancy rewarded him with a soft chuckle. Then she took a sharp breath and asked, "Are you alone tonight?"

"Yeah," he admitted. 

"Are you going to be okay?"

Steve wasn't quite sure that he _would_ be okay, but Nancy sounded like she had a lot going on that night. He didn't want to take her away from where she needed to be _again_. "Y-yeah," he said, trying to sound confident. "Yeah, I'm good. You really helped me a lot today, Nance. You gotta let me know how I can thank you."

"Well," she said, and Steve thought she sounded like she was smiling. "You could, maybe, start working on a nest for sometime next week…"

Grinning, Steve asked, "Yeah?"

"Mm-hm."

Steve maybe did a little victory dance. His Omega wanted him to help her through her heat. "I can do that. I'm on it. Don't worry about anything. I've got it covered."

Nancy laughed, but he recognized it as the laugh she gave when she thought he was being cute. Then she said, "Oh," and was quiet for a second before coming back. "I have to go."

"Will I see you at school tomorrow?"

"Definitely," Nancy said, and as Steve hung up with her, he realized he was feeling a lot better.

Having an Omega he connected with was better than anything he'd had before. He'd thought Tommy and Carol were good for him, but they hadn't been, had they? Being with someone who actually cared about other people was so much better. Steve could hardly believe it.

~*~

Barb covered her ears and tried not to hear what was going on, but it was impossible to shut it out completely.

"Sir, please," said the Omega. "I've been good!"

"That's what you always say, Tony," said the Alpha, his voice measured and almost melodic. "And just this once, you are correct. Except we have a problem…"

"Sir, I'm sorry! What problem?"

There was a loud smacking noise, and the omega cried out. 

Will scrambled out of his bed and into Barb's arms. She held onto him tightly, even though it meant not being able to keep her hands over her ears.

Sir hit the Omega again before saying, "One of your miserable offspring helped that hellion Eleven escape. Fourteen has lost all of her privileges, and so have Eighteen and Twenty."

"Please, Sir," the Omega said, his voice wet. "Twenty is still just a baby. Don't take this out on him!"

"I'm sorry, but Fourteen needs to be taught a lesson. How else is she going to learn how serious this matter is? How grave her mistake was?"

"I don't know! I don't know!"

There was another smack and Will shuddered in Barb's arms. She pressed her hands tight over his, blocking more of the sound from getting to his ears. No one should have to hear something like this, much less an Omega who was still just a kid himself.

~*~

Nancy and Mike sat across the breakfast table from the girl who said her name was Eleven, watching her eat Dina's scrambled eggs like they were the most delicious thing she'd ever tasted. Even Holly, who was only three, watched Eleven with a healthy dose of skepticism.

"Oh, come on," Dina said, ruffling her hand through Mike's hair. "My food isn't that bad. Eleven likes it."

Eleven nodded and smiled. 

"It's not that your food is _bad_ at all, Deen," Nancy insisted. "It's just we're more used to how Mom makes it."

Shaking her head and rolling her eyes, Dina said, "Your mother is a very good cook, but she's busy this morning, with all the…" Dina tilted her head toward Eleven. "So, are my eggs better than going hungry?"

"Yes," Nancy assured her, taking another bite and trying not to make a face at how salty they were. After chewing and swallowing (and washing the bite down with plenty of water), Nancy asked Eleven, "Who cooks for the family at your house?"

Looking down, Eleven said, "Sir used to let my mom cook for us. But then she got sick. Three and Four cook for us now."

"Are Three and Four brothers? Or sisters?" Nancy asked.

Before Eleven could respond, Mike asked, "You _definitely_ saw Will there, right?"

"Yes," she said, taking another bite of eggs. "The policeman showed me Will's picture. It was him."

"Well, what's stopping him from getting out the way you did?" Mike asked, frowning at Nancy when she kicked his shin. "What? All I'm saying is that she's here, and Will's not. I want to know why!"

"Don't yell at our guest, Michael," Ted murmured over the paper he was reading.

Mike looked a little chastened, but he still gave Eleven an expectant expression.

She put down her fork and said quietly, "Papa has Will in the Upside Down. No one leaves the Upside Down unless he lets you."

"Why?" Mike asked. "How can it be possible to have a place that secure? What, is it a prison or something?"

Still looking down, Eleven nodded. 

"You know what?" said Dina, a careful smile on her face. "Why don't we talk about this some other time? When your little sister isn't in the room?" Dina gave a pointed glance in Holly's direction.

"Will Mom be back in time to drive me to school?" Nancy asked, before taking her last bite of breakfast and washing it down with the last of her orange juice.

Looking at her watch, Dina said, "I don't know. And when she does, I won't have time to go all the way over to the school before heading to work. Maybe Ted could drive you?"

"I could do that," he said, in his slow, measured tone as he flipped from one newspaper page to the next.

"Or you could ride your bike," Dina suggested. "Like Mike does."

Nancy rolled her eyes. No one in high school was still riding their bike around. "I'll call Steve. He's going that way, anyway."

"Suit yourself," Ted replied. 

Nancy had just picked up the kitchen phone when there was a knock at the front door. Since she was already on her feet, Nancy went to the door and opened it, smiling when she found Steve on the other side. "I was just going to call you."

"Yeah?" he asked, leaning against the door jamb. He was almost within kissing distance, but not quite. "What were you going to call me about?"

"I wondered if you could give me a ride to school," she asked, closing the distance and pressing her lips to his. When she inhaled, he still faintly smelled like her from the day before.

Steve smiled against her lips and said, "I came over to see if you wanted a ride to school."

"Ew, stop making out," Mike said from the hallway behind Nancy. 

She rolled her eyes and then leaned in closer, marking her cheek with Steve's scent. "Let me just get my things."

"Okay," he said, stepping into the house and letting Nancy close the door behind him.

As Nancy went upstairs, she remembered that she was going to meet Jonathan after school, and it occurred to her that she might have to explain to Steve why she couldn't hang out with him. Especially since he was going to be in that big house all alone, and she was the only member of his pack. 

Maybe he would want to help with the plan?

No, that was a bad idea. With how bonded they were, Steve would probably move heaven and earth to stop Nancy from putting herself in danger. But how was Nancy supposed to accept Steve's love and protection with Barb still at the mercy of that maniac? How was she supposed to just let Hopper search the whole span of woods Eleven had emerged from, when she could go through with the plan and get the answer that much faster?

The night before, she’d gone up in the attic, ostensibly to find a box of clothes that would fit Eleven. While she was up there, she dug into her father’s old stuff from Vietnam. There was a gun – he’d taught her how to shoot it the summer before he died – but no bullets. She checked and made sure it wasn’t loaded before tucking it into the back of her waistband and putting her shirt over it. While she was at it, she grabbed Harvey’s knife, too. After all, like Harvey used to say, guns ran out of bullets, but knives never ran out of blade.

Nancy had hidden the weapons hidden in her closet, in a box with her summer clothes, and they were still there, waiting for her to grab them after school. When she went back down to Steve after packing her bag, she decided not to say anything yet. Not until she'd had more time to think about it.

Nancy could barely concentrate at school. Instead of paying attention, she made and remade her plan over and over again. During lunch, she and Steve sat together, and she found it easier to take a break from planning to just _be_ with him. She noticed him looking over where Tommy and Carol were sitting, a wistful sadness on his face.

She scooted closer and rubbed her jaw against his shoulder. “How are you doing?”

“Better than I thought I’d be,” he replied, wrapping his arms around her. “Especially given yesterday.”

“Good,” she said, giving him a short kiss. She'd finally been able to come up with an excuse for him, saying, “Listen, I am still super grounded tonight, but maybe we can do something tomorrow? I’m sure since it’s Friday night my parents will lighten up a little. Does that sound okay?”

“Yeah,” Steve said, putting his nose close to her scent gland. “Good idea to keep them happy for now. Maybe I’ll spend more time working on your nest.”

At the mention of the nest he was making her, Nancy shivered. She’d only had one heat so far – the one that marked her presentation – and it had been spent in her childhood bedroom. It wasn’t much of a nest at all. 

“Have you ever made one before?” Nancy asked him. 

Steve shrugged. “I made one for Robbie, but he ended up not using it.” Steve took a sharp breath and insisted, “Not because it was _bad_ or anything. Just ‘cause we weren’t compatible or whatever. When his heat hit, he didn't want me.”

“I’m sure I’ll love whatever you build me,” Nancy said, rubbing his jaw with her hand. 

“Yeah, I hope so,” he replied, giving her a quick kiss before taking another bite of his lunch. 

~*~

When it was an hour before school let out, Jonathan left his mom at the police station, saying he needed to get some rest. Hopper was still trying to figure out Will’s location with the information the kid had. It was time to put Nancy’s plan into action instead. 

He went home and showered, scrubbing his neck in particular. Then he put on three layers of deodorant and some clothes that he hadn’t worn for a few weeks. If he did this right, no one would know that he was out there in the woods with Nancy. 

Just so his mom wouldn't worry, he left a note, promising to be home before midnight.

As Jonathan drove over to Nancy's house, he realized he still wasn’t sure about the plan. What if it just got Nancy taken, and provided no answers? As much as he liked Nancy, Jonathan cared about finding Will just a little bit more than he cared about keeping Nancy safe. It was selfish. He was selfish. 

But maybe selfish would bring Jonathan’s baby brother back and ease that worried frown from his mother’s face. 

Nancy was waiting for Jonathan outside, wearing a thick coat and carrying a backpack. She got into his car and said, "Let's head toward the quarry."

"Okay."

Jonathan turned around in the cul-de-sac at the end of Nancy's street before asking, "What's the plan?"

“I’m going to walk through the woods. You’ll stay upwind, so you don’t…” Nancy paused, looking over at Jonathan. She breathed in and then looked at him curiously. "How did you do that?"

"Do what?" he asked, though he had a good idea what Nancy was about to ask.

"Your scent. There's barely any scent coming off you at all," Nancy said, leaning closer, practically putting her nose against his neck.

Jonathan flinched away from her, saying, "Can you not?"

"Sorry." Nancy settled back in her seat, folding her hands in her lap.

Knowing he'd overreacted, Jonathan sighed. Then he told Nancy, "It's this deodorant stuff I have. Blocks the scent glands from releasing pheromones."

Licking her lips and nodding, Nancy said, "I get why you wore it today. It'll be beneficial. But why do you even have it? How are you going to find an Omega you're compatible with if you block your pheromones?"

"I don't care about that." Jonathan didn't look over at Nancy while he drove. If she couldn't see his face, she couldn't see that it was a lie. "I just want to get through high school."

She must have heard something in his voice all the same, because she asked, "You don't like being an Alpha, do you?"

Jonathan thought about lying again, but eventually he shook his head. "I hoped it wouldn't happen, but everyone knows the statistics. When you've got an Alpha and an Omega as parents…"

"Yeah." Nancy took a sharp breath before admitting, "My older brother, Paul, presented Alpha, even though his mom is a Beta. I thought for sure I was going to be like him, but I'm not."

“You _are_ very aggressive for an Omega,” he said, giving her a smile so she would know he was joking.

Nancy looked offended for half a second before she looked over at Jonathan and laughed. “You’re really quiet for an Alpha.”

Jonathan nodded. It was true. "It's like… It's like, you grow up hearing the stereotypes, and when you don't fit them, then what?" He scoffed and trailed off as he said, "Everyone keeps me waiting for an answer on that one…"

"Yeah,” Nancy said, and the way she said it made Jonathan feel like she _got it_. She wasn’t just agreeing to be polite. 

The quarry was still mostly roped off as a crime scene, so Jonathan parked a quarter mile away from it, just along the side of the road. He and Nancy both got out of the car and she opened her backpack. “Do you want the gun or the knife?”

“Jesus,” Jonathan said, looking down at the weapons in Nancy’s hands. He’d shot a gun a few times, at Lonnie’s insistence, and never cared for it. Then again, that was before he presented, when Lonnie was trying to teach him how to hunt. Still, Jonathan reached for the knife, attaching the little scabbard that came with it to his belt. 

Nancy put the gun in her coat pocket, and put the backpack onto her back. “C’mon, let’s go. Stay far enough back that he won't notice you.”

Jonathan wasn't quite sure how to do that while also keeping track of Nancy, but he figured it might just be one of those things he had to work out in the moment. Nodding, he followed Nancy into the forest. If it had been summer, her deep red coat would have been easy to spot amid the green foliage. As it was November and fall bordering on winter, the color made her blend in with the brown tree trunks and the orange and brown leaves littering the forest floor. Still, her footfalls were heavy (deliberately so if Jonathan was right about her), so Jonathan followed her mostly by sound. 

It didn't take too long to get dark, and Jonathan expected Nancy to turn around and head back for the car, but she didn't. She turned on a flashlight and kept going. He was about to catch up to her, to ask her to turn back, but then he heard another set of footsteps. 

Nancy must have heard them too, because her steps slowed, and then shuffled, like she was turning around. The other footsteps stopped as well, so Jonathan held still, waiting for something to happen. He breathed in and caught the slightest hint of Alpha on the air.

Then Nancy's footsteps started again, falling rapidly as they moved toward Jonathan. The other footsteps followed her, rapidly closing the distance. 

She was bringing the other Alpha to him. 

Keeping his breaths shallow and silent, Jonathan crouched, waiting to strike. Nancy was still ten yards away from him when she screamed. Jonathan ran to her, and by the time he got there, the Alpha's back was to Jonathan, his arms tight around Nancy's thin frame. 

Between schoolyard scraps and being pushed around by Lonnie, Jonathan had developed a few instincts for fighting. The first thing his instincts told him to do was kick the back of the Alpha's right knee, and then get his arm around the Alpha's neck.

He managed to do that, and was focused on locking his arm around the Alpha, when he suddenly let go of Nancy. She whipped around and smashed her flashlight into the Alpha's temple. All of a sudden his weight sagged and Jonathan had to let go so he wouldn't be dragged to the ground with him. 

"Oh!" Nancy cried, shining the still-functional flashlight down at the man who'd grabbed her. She frowned, so Jonathan looked as well. "This isn't right. He can't be much older than us."

Remembering what Eleven had told him and Hopper about who might come after her, Jonathan said, "I wonder if this is One. Eleven's brother who's an Alpha. She said he would be looking for her."

Nodding, Nancy crouched down next to the Alpha and said, "Keep a lookout. And give me your knife."

"What for?" Jonathan asked, even as he did it. 

Nancy took the backpack off her back and pulled out a length of rope. She wrapped it tightly around one of the Alpha's legs, tied it off, then left a short stretch of rope before she wrapped it around the other ankle and knotted it tightly. Taking the knife out of its scabbard, she cut off the rest of the rope. After that was done, Jonathan watched her out of the corner of his eye, scanning the dark woods for threats.

Nancy tied the Alpha's wrists together tightly, again cutting off the excess rope. She sheathed the knife, said, "Here," and handed it back to Jonathan before putting the extra rope in her backpack. 

Taking the knife and putting it back on his belt, Jonathan asked, "What do we do now? Leave him here like this?"

"He's not that big. We'll carry him out."

"We're half an hour from the car, at least," Jonathan told her. "How am I supposed to carry him that far?"

Shaking her head, Nancy said, "We moved in a wide arc. We're only ten minutes from the car if we go that way." She pointed into the forest.

"It's dark," Jonathan said. "How do you know that?"

Smiling, Nancy pulled a compass out of her jacket pocket, shining the flashlight on it. "Girl Scouts."

With a chuckle and a shake of his head, Jonathan asked, "Did Girl Scouts also teach you how to knock out an Alpha using a flashlight?"

"No, that was my dad," she said, waving Jonathan closer to the unconscious Alpha. "His idea of protecting the pack was teaching us all self defense."

Jonathan remembered his mom making him go to Harvey Wheeler's funeral. It hadn't been that long after she'd kicked Lonnie out, and at the time it had seemed like the whole world was falling apart. Except it didn't. Life had gone on. Will had grown happier and when Mike came over, he'd eventually lost most of that sad expression in his eyes.

With Will and Barb missing, Jonathan felt like this was another one of those bad times. Only now, he knew it was possible to survive them. Nancy helping him, Jonathan pulled the young Alpha up onto his shoulders. He got his feet under him, and it wasn't as hard to walk as he thought it would be. Since he had presented, everything physical had been easier than he expected it to be. 

He _should_ have expected it. Everyone who had taken middle school health class knew what Alpha hormones did to the human body. It shouldn't have been a surprise.

"Okay, Nancy," he said, really hoping the guy wouldn't wake up anytime soon. "Show me the way out of here."

Consulting her compass, Nancy pointed the flashlight to her right. "This way. Watch out for that fallen branch."

She reached her hand back, solidly gripping the hand Jonathan gave her and helping him keep his balance. When she let go, Jonathan could still feel her hand in his.

As he walked behind her, mostly he had the scent of the Alpha in his nose, but occasionally Nancy's scent overpowered his. Jonathan tried not to let himself admit how infuriatingly _good_ she smelled, but he failed. So, okay. She smelled good. Lots of Omegas smelled good right before they went into heat. It didn't have to _mean_ anything.

It couldn't mean anything. She already had an Alpha she'd bonded with. 

And it wasn't like Jonathan wanted to be her Alpha. He didn't want to be anyone's Alpha. Aside from using his strength and his scent to protect his mom and his brother, he couldn't imagine himself being the Alpha of his own pack. That was for other people. People like Lonnie and Harvey Wheeler. People like Jim Hopper.

People like Steve Harrington.

They'd been walking for about five minutes when the Alpha on Jonathan's back started to murmur. Then he started to struggle.

"Shit," Jonathan said, setting him down and backing away from him before he totally regained consciousness. "Come back," he called to Nancy, deliberately not using her name.

She turned sharply, pointing her flashlight at Jonathan, and then on the Alpha on the ground. He squinted at the light in his eyes, and then spit, "Fucking Omega! You tricked me!"

Jonathan had to fight down the urge to kick him in the stomach for talking about an Omega that way.

Nancy took the gun out of her coat pocket and leveled it at the Alpha, saying in an icy voice, "Get on your feet."

"Crazy bitch!"

Pulling the hammer back on the revolver, Nancy shot a bullet a few feet over the Alpha's head, and it lodged in a tree, knocking loose a shower of splinters. "Get. On. Your. Feet."

Jonathan was pretty sure Alphas weren't supposed to have the sort of physical reaction to an Omega threatening violence that he was having. Feeling strange and ashamed, Jonathan turned away and readjusted himself so it would be less obvious.

"Okay, Jesus," said the Alpha, struggling to get up onto his feet with all the rope Nancy had tied around his wrists and ankles. "Now what?"

"Walk." She handed the flashlight to Jonathan and nodded her head in the direction she wanted him to go, all the while keeping her gun trained on the Alpha. "Follow him."

Jonathan didn't relish having to turn his back on the Alpha, but it was Nancy's gun, so he supposed they were stuck doing it this way. He picked his way through the underbrush of the forest, trying to keep a straight heading while still picking out the path the Alpha could follow with his feet hobbled. Luckily, it wasn't much farther before they made it to the road. 

Looking up the road and down the road, Jonathan didn't see any landmarks, so he asked Nancy, "Which way is the car?"

"To the right," she said, her words short and clipped. 

Jonathan turned. He followed the road around a curve, and there was his car. 

He dropped back, behind the Alpha, to talk to Nancy, quietly asking, "What's your plan?"

"Put him in the back seat," she replied. "Tie his wrists to his ankles. Take him to Hopper."

Jonathan couldn't find fault with the plan, so he nodded. He jogged ahead and opened the passenger door, moving the seat forward.

"Where the fuck do you think you're taking me?" The Alpha asked. "I'm not getting in there."

"We're making a citizen's arrest," Nancy told him. "So you're getting in there and we're taking you to the police."

"The police? For what? Making an Omega scream?" He chuckled meanly. "Baby, I can make an Omega scream their whole heat lon–"

Jonathan didn't know he was going to punch the Alpha in the face until he'd already done it. 

"God! Fuck!" the Alpha cried, bending over and breathing hard for a few seconds. "You hit goddamn _hard_ for a beta!"

"Get in the car," Jonathan told him, hating the way the shoulders of his jacket still smelled like the stranger.

A set stance, the gun steady in her hands, Nancy said, "You heard him."

While the Alpha grumbled and got into the car, slipping a few times due to his hobbled legs, Jonathan got the rest of the rope out of Nancy's backpack. He made quick work of looping the rope through the ropes holding his ankles and wrists, and tied them tightly together, knotting the rope four times over to make it more difficult to untie while they were driving.

Jonathan felt like it was almost easy to work in silent concert with Nancy, rounding the car and getting into the driver's seat while she got in the other side and kept her gun trained on the Alpha. He started the car, and they were off.

Jonathan almost expected the Alpha to start talking shit again, or to start yelling, or anything, but he went quiet as they drove. Ten tense, silent minutes later, and Jonathan was driving down main street, stopping in front of the police station.

He didn't want to leave Nancy alone with the Alpha, so he said, "Go get someone. I'll keep an eye on him."

Nancy gave him a series of short glances, but then she released the hammer on her gun and backed out of the car. 

As soon as she was gone, the Alpha muttered, "You've got Omegas acting like Alphas out here. It's sick."

"Out here, huh?" Jonathan asked. "Where do you think Omegas should be? The Upside Down?"

The Alpha looked at Jonathan for a moment, and then scoffed. "You found the little bitch."

"Yeah," Jonathan said, keeping a close watch on the Alpha's hands, in case he tried to start untying himself. Keeping his voice low, he said, "I know your Alpha took my brother. He's only twelve years old. How can you... how can you stand seeing an Omega hurt and not want to do something to stop it?"

The Alpha grinned, saying, "Oh, I told Papa taking a kid that young was going to be trouble, but the bastard just couldn't help himself. I gotta say, I understand. That little Omega cries so damn pretty–"

"Shut the fuck up," Jonathan said, blinking and finding his hand wrapped around the Alpha's throat. He let go, saying, "There's something seriously wrong with you."

"Oh, I get it now. _You're_ the kid's Alpha," he said, taking a deeper breath. "Yeah, that's you I'm smelling in this car. No wonder you hit so hard."

Jonathan figured punching the Alpha's face into something resembling a crater was probably counterproductive, as good as his instincts tried to convince him it would feel. Luckily, Nancy came back with Hopper and one of his officers. 

Jonathan got out of the car, telling Hopper, "He's definitely from the same place as Eleven. He has to know where Will is."

"Okay," Hopper said, hauling the Alpha out of the car and setting him down on the sidewalk. As he put handcuffs around the man's wrists, Hopper asked, "What's your name, kid?"

"One," he replied, sounding almost proud of his name. "What's yours, fatass?"

Hopper flicked open a switchblade with a mean look in his eyes, and Jonathan swore he saw One swallow nervously. "Chief of Police Hopper. And I have reason to believe you're a material witness in an ongoing case, which means that I can hold you at least 48 hours, and possibly much, much longer if a judge agrees. If I were you, I'd probably keep the 'fatass' comments to a minimum, huh?"

One didn't cower, but he didn't speak again either as Hopper cut the ropes around his wrists and ankles. When he stood up, he said to Jonathan, "Take Nancy home, then go home yourself. It's getting late. We'll get a statement from you both tomorrow."

Jonathan nodded. He got back in the car, and waited for Nancy to join him. Together they watched Hopper walk One into the police station. 

"This has to be the break we've been waiting for, doesn't it?" Nancy asked, opening the cylinder of the revolver and tipping out the bullets, making sure it was empty before she put everything into her backpack. Jonathan pulled out onto Main Street, and when he looked back at her, he saw that her hands were shaking.

"Are you okay?"

Looking over at Jonathan, Nancy pressed her lips together and looked away again, shaking her head. "No."

Jonathan took the turn off Main that went toward Nancy's neighborhood. "What's wrong?"

"I thought…" she said, taking a deep breath and looking out the window. "I thought I could get back to you before he caught me. But I couldn't. And now everything _stinks_ like him."

Still getting wafts of One off his own jacket, Jonathan said, "Yeah, I know what you mean."

"And he was so…" She brushed at her face, like she was wiping away tears. "He _hates_ Omegas so much! If that's what he's coming from, then… then…"

"Then what is his father doing to Barb and Will?" Jonathan finished for her with a shaky sigh.

"Yeah," Nancy said, shivering. 

Jonathan turned up the heat, but honestly it didn't work all that well to begin with. Luckily it didn't take too long to get to Nancy's house. She looked out the window at it for a strangely silent moment before asking, "Will you give me a boost? I don't think I can climb up on my own."

"Sure," he said, cutting the engine and getting out of the car. He followed Nancy to the corner where the garage met the rest of the house. Remembering the knife still on his belt, he took it off and handed it to Nancy. "You should have that back."

She took it, nodding with another shaky breath before putting it in her backpack. "Was it difficult?" Jonathan asked her. "Using his things tonight?"

Nancy wiped away a tear and nodded. Her voice just above a whisper, she admitted, "I didn't think it would be, but it was. I mean, his death was so _stupid_. It was a stupid fight over _nothing_ and then he was just _gone_." She gave a sad little laugh. "Do you want to know something?"

"Sure."

"When I presented Omega, I was actually _relieved_. As much as I loved my dad, I didn't want to turn into someone who did stupid things like he did."

Looking down at his shoes as he nodded, Jonathan said, "No, I get it. You _should_ be glad. I wouldn't wish this on anyone."

Nancy made a soft, "Oh," sort of noise, and then she was hugging him tightly, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck and her hands on his shoulder blades.

Jonathan didn't know what to do, so he hugged her back.

After a long moment, Nancy let him go, saying, "I should get back inside. I need to take a month-long shower. Get this scent off me."

Chuckling, Jonathan nodded. He cupped his hands to make a place for Nancy to put her foot, and then he helped lift her up onto the roof next to her window. He waited until she got inside and turned around, giving him one last wave. 

He waved back and left, trying not to notice the way she must have accidentally scent-marked his shoulder when she hugged him.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for this chapter: gendered slurs and canon-typical violence/abuse.

Steve knew that Nancy was grounded, but he was home alone for the second night in a row and he couldn’t sleep. It was too late to call Nancy’s house without royally pissing off her parents, so he got out of bed and tried to think of something to keep himself busy until he felt more like sleeping. 

The nest he was building for Nancy was almost done. There was a checklist in the back of the book Livvy had given him when he first presented, and he had everything put together except for some of the food and the condoms. 

Figuring the late-night pharmacy was still open, and that he might feel more like sleeping once the task was done, Steve put on his shoes and jacket. He thought maybe, while he was out, he could stop by Nancy’s just for a minute. He was sure when he smelled more like her, he would feel better too. 

He drove over to her neighborhood, listening to the radio and drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. He parked a few houses down from Nancy’s place, and was about to get out of the car when he noticed two figures standing next to the house. One hugged the other for a long few seconds.

Steve wasn’t quite sure what he was seeing until the first figure climbed up onto the roof, her ponytail shining in the light from the street lamp. The other figure waved goodbye and left, and when he passed Steve and got into a rusted-out Ford across the street, Steve realized it was Jonathan Byers. 

Why would Jonathan Byers be visiting Nancy so late at night? The only thing they had in common was being close to Omegas who had gone missing. Maybe there had been some news or something.

Or…

That had been quite the hug Nancy gave Jonathan. What had she been trying to accomplish with that hug? Her heat was coming up, so maybe that was it? Steve’s mom had always gotten more huggy and affectionate in the days leading up to her heats, back when she still had them. She especially tended to pull their Betas, Livvy and Sam, into long hugs.

Was that what Nancy was doing? Was she missing the Betas Steve had driven away? Did she want Jonathan to be their new Beta?

Why _him_?

Steve could think of at least five other Betas that would have been a better fit for them besides Jonathan Byers. He was a weird loner. No one wanted him in their pack. He certainly didn’t seem like he wanted to be in anyone’s pack either, keeping to himself the way he always did. Using that camera of his to take pictures of everything. 

Why couldn’t he just be normal?

Then again, if Nancy liked him, he had to be pretty great. Right?

She wouldn’t hug someone who made her uncomfortable in any way. She was too forthright for any of that bullshit. Either she liked you to your face or not at all.

And then Steve realized where the “Jonathan Byers is a loser” mindset was coming from. That was the sort of bullshit Carol and Tommy liked to say about Jonathan. They liked to say shit like that about anyone who wasn’t exactly what they thought was “cool,” Steve included. 

They were miserable assholes, passing judgement on everyone and anyone, and Steve should have seen it sooner. 

Wanting to think about this a little more before he spoke to Nancy, Steve turned around and left her neighborhood. He did stop at the pharmacy, buying the missing items from his list. As soon as he had them home, and in place, he felt better. His mind was more at ease and he was finally able to fall asleep.

~*~

The second day in the Upside Down passed much as the first had. Eight had brought all their meals, but the other children weren't allowed to make an appearance. Barb had been allowed to shower and put on a new set of clothes that looked the same as the first. But that was about all the excitement the day had in store. After Danielle had given him some notebook paper and a pencil, Will passed the time drawing. Barb counted the cinderblocks in their room and tried to remember as many elements on the periodic table as she could.

After dinner, when a voice – different from Sir's – ordered them back into their rooms, Barb caught a glance at one of Will's drawings. It was an incredible depiction of the girl from the first morning. Eleven. Picking it up, Barb told him, "This is _really_ good. It looks just like her."

"Thanks," Will said with a shy smile, taking the drawing when Barb handed it back to him. "I didn't want to forget her face."

Barb gave Will a sad smile and stopped herself from asking him if he thought she was really able to get away from this place. Sir's temper the night before had been brutal, and maybe that argued in favor of the theory that he was pissed off because Eleven had done it. She'd gotten away.

Then, Barb cynically thought that maybe Sir was always like that. Maybe Eleven had gotten away. Maybe she hadn't. Maybe it was a story Sir had Eight tell them to mess with their heads. Maybe she'd tried to escape and something awful had happened to her. There was no way to know from here.

The possibilities were maddening, and the not-knowing meant that Barb kept coming up with new scenarios. 

At least an hour after the lights went off, Barb heard heavy footsteps on the stairs coming down into the basement. They were too heavy to be one of the children, and their cadence reminded Barb of the night before, when Sir had made that other Omega, Tony, scream.

She still hadn't met either of the Omegas in the third room. 

The door at the bottom of the stairs opened, and then closed, locking shut, Barb was sure. She expected one of the other doors to open next, but the lock that clicked open was too close to be any other than the one to her door. 

Barb scrambled up until she was sitting, pulling her blankets close around her, as if they would provide any protection from a psychotic Alpha. The door opened, and the shadow Sir cast was exceptionally long. Looking over, Barb saw that somehow, Will had fallen asleep, and he was still asleep, half his face lit by the light coming from the common room outside the door.

Sir took two steps in Will's direction before Barb acted on instinct and scrambled out of bed. She put herself between Sir and Will, telling him in a loud whisper, "No! You can't touch him!"

Somehow, despite everything she'd heard the night before, the backhanded slap across her mouth caught Barb by surprise. 

"Do not get in my way," Sir said, his voice measured and even, with just a hint of musicality and good humor. "I am about to conduct an experiment, Barbara. Tell me, do you know what a hypothesis is?"

Feeling a trickle of blood run down from the corner of her mouth, Barb asked herself what Nancy would do in this situation. She would stand tall, like she had against Davey Schnieder in the sixth grade. Barb made herself as tall as she could. Although she was tall for an Omega, Sir was much taller. He was just about the tallest person Barb had ever seen. Her voice wavering, despite Barb trying so hard not to let it, she said, "It's a supposition you can test experimentally."

Sir nodded. As Barb's eyes adjusted to the contrast of light and shadow, she began to make out the features of his face. 

The most shocking aspect of his appearance was how _normal_ he looked. 

"Very good," he said, even more humor in his voice. "Perhaps your offspring will be the thinkers of the family."

Barb fought the urge to shudder. She heard Will shift in bed behind her, and knew that he was now awake.

"Now, the hypothesis that I have been trying to test is as follows…" He took another step closer to Barb and she could smell the awful Alpha stench of him. "The younger the Omega, the less time it takes to break their will. And oh, Barbara," he smiled, and in any other context it would have looked kind. Here it made Barb's hair stand on end. "You two are the youngest Omegas I've ever captured."

"Y-you can't touch him," Barb said. "Take me instead."

"No!" Will said from behind her, but Barb took half a step to block him from Sir's view. 

Looking Sir dead in the eye, Barb insisted, "He's too small. Can't you understand that? He's still a child!"

Sir's voice got cold and he took a step closer, towering over Barb as he said, "Omegas are _not_ children. They are biologically distinct. Surely as a woman of learning, you can understand what it means when an Omega experiences their first heat."

Clenching her fists, Barb did her best to channel how Nancy would handle this situation. She cried out, "Fuck biology and fuck y–"

The blow made Barb fall to her knees, dizzy, her ears ringing, and her cheekbone throbbing.

"I suppose tonight's experiment shall have to be performed on the second-youngest Omega I have ever captured," Sir said, grabbing Barb by the arm and pulling her from the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

Will screamed after them, "No! Barb, no! Don't hurt her!"

The lock on the door between her and Will clicked shut, and Barb was left alone with Sir.

~*~

After taking a long shower, scrubbing her entire body, and sticking her Alpha-marked clothes in the wash, Nancy felt a lot better. When she finally laid down in bed, the only thing missing was Steve’s scent on her skin. 

As she fell asleep, she kind of wished she still had Jonathan’s scent on her skin too. 

Nancy slept fitfully, having dreams about being chased, and grabbed. Tight arms wrapped around her chest, stealing her ability to breathe. She couldn't scream, and there was no way to tell Jonathan that she needed his help. And she really needed his help.

When she woke up, it was to knocking on her bedroom door. Looking at her bedside clock, she saw that it was only 6:30. 

"Nancy," said Karen from the hallway. "I need you to get up."

Groaning, Nancy stumbled out of bed and opened her door. "It's too early."

"I know," Karen said, a concerned look on her face, "but Chief Hopper called. He needs your help."

Nancy pushed her hair out of her face and asked, "With what?"

Karen leaned her shoulder against the door jamb. "Apparently he has a witness who won't talk to anyone, except _you_."

Nancy was about to ask who the witness was and how she knew them, but then she realized it was probably Eleven's brother, One. She sighed. "Okay. I'll get dressed."

Dina was the one who brought Nancy to the police station, Karen staying back to take care of Holly, Mike, and Eleven, and Ted going to work. Nancy always thought it was unfair how everyone in the family seemed to prioritize Ted's job over Dina's, just because he made more money than her. Not that Nancy particularly wanted Ted at the police station supporting her through _this_ , but it was a point worth considering.

Nancy followed Dina into the station, where they met Hopper. If he'd slept at all during the ten-ish hours since Nancy had last seen him, it didn't show on his face. He had dark circles under his eyes and a mug of coffee that didn't leave his hand until it was empty. "I've been trying to get the location out of this guy," he told Nancy, “and haven't been having much luck. If you can't get him to talk, we're going to have to scour the whole forest looking for this place. It'll probably take longer than we actually have before something happens to those missing Omegas."

Nancy nodded. "How…?" she asked, stopping outside the room Hopper showed her to. "How should I talk to him? Confrontational? Accommodating? Inscrutable?"

"Just be yourself," Hopper assured her. "I'll be with you in there. I'll ask the questions. He might ask you to repeat them, and that's fine. Normally, I wouldn't play these kinds of games, but two kidnapped Omegas in the span of three days has everyone on edge. The Mayor's talking about calling in the staties, and who knows how long it will take them to get up to speed?"

"Okay. Let's go," Nancy said, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. Hopper led the way into the room, and Nancy followed him. She was glad to see that One was handcuffed to the table. He wouldn't be able to grab her. Not again.

"Hey, there she is," One said with a pleased grin before he took a deep breath. "Ooh, you're smelling so nice today. Even better than last night."

Nancy gave him an unimpressed look and sat down in the chair Hopper gave her. He sat beside her, opened up a folder and set a legal pad next to it. Taking a pen from his shirt pocket, Hopper set it on the legal pad and then took a picture of Will out of the folder. “Do you know this boy?”

One raised his eyebrows at Nancy.

She scoffed and moved the picture closer to One. "Do you know this boy?"

"I've seen him before, yes," One told her, tilting his head at her, his buzzed-short hair catching the overhead light and revealing it to be dark blonde, rather than brown as she'd thought. "Can't say I know him all that well."

Narrowing her eyes at One, Nancy asked, "Do you know where he is?"

One shrugged. "Can't be sure. Papa might have moved him."

"Let's assume he hasn't been moved," Nancy said, ignoring the way Hopper opened his mouth next to her. Leaning forward she asked, "Where did you last see this boy?"

"Last I saw him, Papa was taking him into the Upside Down." One leaned back, just about as far as he could with his hands cuffed to the table.

Hopper jumped in, asking, "How do we get to the Upside Down?"

"Oh, you wouldn't want to go there."

Slamming the table as she stood up, Nancy cried, "Cut the bullshit and tell us where this place is!"

One blinked at her for a second, before saying, "You're the worst Omega I've ever met, you know that?"

"I don't give a shit what you think of me," Nancy told him, reaching for Hopper's folder and pulling out a picture of Barb. "All I give a shit about is getting my friend back from your asshole of a father."

"You're asking me to betray my father," he said, "for the sake of a couple Omega bitches."

Nancy _almost_ got close enough to punch One in the face before Hopper caught her and picked her up, hauling her away from him. Nancy gave a frustrated screech, which made One laugh.

"Jesus, calm down," One said with a laugh. "I said that you're asking me to betray him, not that I wouldn't."

So angry she was trembling, Nancy couldn't speak.

Luckily, Hopper was more composed. He asked, "Where are Will Byers and Barbara Holland?"

One looked up at Hopper, but slid his eyes over to Nancy before he spoke again. "I want assurance that I won't go down for the old man's crimes. I am, after all, still a minor."

"Can you prove that?" Hopper asked him. "You got any sort of ID?"

Shaking his head, One said, "My birth was never recorded. None of us were." He finally moved his eyes from Nancy back to Hopper. "Made it easier to get away with the deaths."

Nodding, Hopper sighed and then asked, "How many deaths?"

"At least five that I know of," One told him. "I can show you where he made me bury them."

Nancy shuddered at the thought of being forced to bury one's own siblings. 

"You give us all that information," Hopper told him, "including how to get past any security systems, I will make sure the DA goes easy on you. Lightest possible charges, and tried as a minor."

One licked his lips and leaned forward, putting his forearms on the table. "Papa's name is Dr. Martin Brenner. He's a state senator. His address is a matter of public record."

"Holy shit," Nancy said, putting a hand over her mouth. "I've heard that name before."

"Yeah, so have I," Hopper said, gathering everything up into the folder and picking it up. "Come on." He guided Nancy out of the room, closing the door behind them. "Thank you for your help, Miss Wheeler."

"What are you going to do?" Nancy asked him. "That's a state senator. He's got to have a lot of power. What if One is fucking with us?"

"That's for me to worry about. You need to worry about going back to school." Hopper gestured her to where Dina was waiting at one of the cop's desks.

"But–" Nancy tried to say, but Hopper cut her off. 

"No. I will do everything in my power and then some to get Barb home safely," Hopper promised, holding steady eye contact with her, proving his sincerity. "I cannot do my job if I have to worry about you pulling another stunt like you did last night. Do you understand?"

Nancy nodded. "I understand."

"Good. Get out of here. I will let you know as soon as anything changes."

Hopper gave Nancy a little bit of a nudge toward Dina, and when she turned to look at him, he was already moving the other way. She sighed and went to Dina, accepting a hug and marking herself with Dina's faint Beta scent to get some measure of comfort. 

"It's okay, honey," Dina said, petting Nancy's hair. "Everything's going to be okay."

"Can I…?" Nancy asked, sighing. "I want to see Steve."

"Sure." Dina wrapped one arm around Nancy's shoulders and led her out of the police station.

Nancy gave directions and they were at Steve's house ten minutes later. It wasn't even eight in the morning, and Steve's car was still in the driveway, so Nancy figured he had to be at home. She went up to the door and pressed the doorbell. When Steve still hadn't answered the door half a minute later, she rang it again. A few times. 

She tried the front door, but it was locked. 

If Steve didn't come to the door, Nancy felt like she might burst into tears. She recognized the fact that the week before a heat was already a difficult time emotionally. This was only her second heat ever, and her best friend wasn't here to talk to about it. She was being held prisoner by an asshole state senator, and who knew how much leniency his power would get him? Who knew whether Barb was still alive or not?

When Steve opened the door, his hair still wet, Nancy had tears on her face. 

"Hey," he said in a soft voice, pulling her into his arms. "What's wrong?"

Nancy waved goodbye to Dina before saying, "I'm not in heat yet, but is that nest…?"

"It's all ready," Steve assured her, pulling her into the house and closing the door. He put his hand in hers and led her up the stairs to his bedroom. 

His bed had more pillows and blankets than it had earlier in the week, and there was a new table next to it, full of all sorts of supplies. "How many times have you done this before?" she asked him.

Steve shrugged. "I built one that Robbie didn't use. And when I was little, I helped Livvy build one for my mom a couple times."

"Your dad didn't build it himself?" Nancy asked, kicking off her shoes and slipping out of her coat.

"No," Steve told her with a sarcastic laugh. "He was always 'too busy.'"

Nancy took off her shoes and got into the bed, liking the way the sheets were clean, but smelled strongly of Steve. She reached for him and he got into the bed with her, letting her cuddle him close and press her nose against the underside of his jaw. 

After a minute, Steve asked, "Is everything okay?"

"No," she said, rubbing Steve's other scent gland with her hand. "Barb is still missing, and I didn't sleep well, and my hormones are all over the place. I feel like a mess. I don't know why you would want to build me a nest. I'm the _worst_ Om–"

"You're amazing," Steve told her, and he sounded so sincere that Nancy had to take a sharp breath that was shaky when she let it back out again. 

Steve rubbed his thumb against her jaw, saying, "I'm serious, Nancy. With everything going on these past couple days, I'm so impressed how well you've gotten through it. You're stronger than anyone else I know." 

Nancy sniffled and had to push away a tear. "Can I just… let go? Sleep here for a while?"

"As long as you want, Nance," he said, his thumb on her jaw just the right pressure to calm her and mark himself. "I made this nest for you. You should use it."

She nodded, surrounded by the way his scent and hers mingled together. The nightmares that had plagued her the night before felt miles away. Closing her eyes, Nancy drifted off to sleep.

~*~

Jonathan woke up when there was a knock on the front door. It had taken him a long time to fall asleep the night before, so it took a minute to get to his feet. By the time he reached his bedroom door, he could hear Chief Hopper talking to his mother.

"...they are, but getting them out is going to be tricky."

"How so?" Joyce asked, a healthy dose of skepticism in her voice.

"Well," Hopper said, and Jonathan heard the door close. "We have a witness who claims Will was taken by Dr. Martin Brenner."

Joyce replied, "So? Sounds good enough to me, let's go…"

"I'm right there with you," Hopper told her, "but if we go in there with a full SWAT team, and it turns out this witness is having us on, the fallout is going to kill the investigation. That happens, we're never going to find Will."

"Shit," Joyce said, and Jonathan had to agree. He reached for the doorknob, intent on joining the discussion, but Hopper's next words made him pause.

"That's why I'm going in alone."

"Hop, no! You can't go in by yourself," Joyce told him. Then she said something in a low voice that Jonathan couldn't quite understand.

A warning in his voice, Hopper said, "Joyce…"

"He is _my son_ , Hopper. _My son_!"

This time it was Hopper whose words Jonathan didn't understand. 

Then all of a sudden, there were hurried footsteps and the front door slamming and by the time Jonathan got to the front window, his mom was already in Hopper's truck. The truck pulled away and Jonathan had no idea where they were going. How was he supposed to help if he didn't know where he had to be?

Figuring the police station could probably be his first stop, Jonathan got dressed. He'd applied deodorant the night before, right after his shower, but he put some more on in lieu of taking another shower. Whatever. It wasn't like he was going to school today. Not with Will still missing and Hopper dragging his mom into _something_. 

As he was pulling his sweater on over his head, Jonathan heard a car door slam. He thought it must have been his mom, having forgotten her keys or something in the rush to get out of the house. Except, the newcomer knocked, and Joyce wouldn't have done that.

Frowning, Jonathan went to the door and opened it, catching a whiff of Nancy's scent and expecting her for a fraction of a second before he realized it was actually Steve Harrington standing on his front porch. Shit. What was this about? Cautiously, Jonathan said, "Hello?"

"Hi," Steve said, a careful look on his face. "We don't really know each other, but I know Nancy likes you a lot, so I thought…" If Jonathan wasn't mistaken, the smile Steve gave him was meant to be _charming_. "I thought I should come say hello. Maybe ask if, you know. Once everything gets back to normal, you might want to go out with us?"

"What?" Jonathan asked, completely flummoxed. "You're...you're asking me out?"

Frowning at Jonathan like he was just as confused, Steve said, "Yeah. Nancy and I, our pack could use a Beta."

Steve still thought Jonathan was a Beta? That meant Nancy hadn't told him. And wait... "Don't you already have two Betas?

His expression turning darker, Steve looked down and shook his head. "I, um… I dumped them after I figured out why everyone thinks Tommy and Carol are assholes."

Curious, Jonathan asked, "Why?"

"Because they _are_ assholes," Steve said, grinning when Jonathan gave the tiniest snort of laughter.

Already pretty sure he knew the answer, Jonathan asked, "Does Nancy know you're here?"

"No," Steve said. "But she's pre-heat, and I have a feeling it's gonna be a rough one. So, I figured I should come over here," he said, stepping a little closer. "Get a feel for where you're at."

"I'm…" Jonathan said, sure that his whole ruse was about to be unraveled. Grasping at straws, he told Steve, "My brother is missing. I can't think about–"

"I saw you hugging Nancy last night," Steve said, moving even closer and he was _covered_ in Nancy's scent. Covered in _her pre-heat scent_. After the scent hit his nose, everything Jonathan could see got a touch brighter. "You're obviously interested in her."

"I'm…" Jonathan tried to lie. He was going to say he didn't want her and he didn't want to date them, but before he got the words out, he saw the moment Steve realized Jonathan wasn't a Beta. 

Steve's nostrils flared, then eyes went wide, and his lip curled. He grabbed Jonathan's shirt and pushed him against the siding next to the door. "You're…!"

Jonathan wrapped his hands around Steve's wrists, but instead of pushing him away, Jonathan breathed in again and that scent… It wasn't just Nancy. It was the way her scent mixed with Steve's pre-rut scent that was driving him crazy. All Jonathan could do was breathe it in as he met Steve's eyes. Everything was so bright and so loud, and his skin all felt so hot.

His voice surprisingly soft, Steve said, "She's… she's _mine_. I built her a nest. We've _bonded_." He swallowed loudly, his brow furrowed. "You can't take her from me."

"I don't want to take her from you," Jonathan insisted. "I just needed her help trying to find my brother."

Steve looked away as he thought this over, his fingers loosening. "So, last night…?"

"We went looking for him in the woods. That's it," Jonathan said, breathing in again. God, that scent! It made him feel alive, and reckless, and greedy. Before he realized what he was doing, he put his hand on the side of Steve's neck and rubbed his thumb against Steve's scent gland. 

Steve closed his eyes, leaning into the caress for half a second, before his eyes snapped open again. Looking as confused as Jonathan felt, Steve pushed Jonathan against the wall again before turning and leaving.

"What the fuck was that?" Jonathan asked himself, watching Steve's car back out of the driveway and speed off.

~*~

Steve didn’t know what to do with himself after finding out that Jonathan was an Alpha; after whatever-the-hell-that-was had happened.

He went back home, expecting to find Nancy still in his bed. Instead he found a note thanking him and telling him that Nancy had gone home for the day and that she’d call him later. 

So, he said, “Fuck it,” and went to school. It was Friday, and he'd already missed first period, but he figured he could explain the tardy to his parents after they came home that afternoon.

Class was boring, but at least he was there. Lunch was the worst. Without Nancy in school, Steve either had to sit alone, or sit with the friends Tommy and Carol had somehow taken when Steve broke up with them. 

Whatever. He bought his lunch and sat down at an empty table. To his surprise, five minutes later, a girl sat down across from him. She was in a couple of his classes, and he was pretty sure her name was Robin, but he didn't want to use it until he found out for sure. She smelled like she was still unpresented, which wasn't completely unheard of during Junior year, but it was rare. Steve wondered if she'd skipped a grade.

After a minute of eating in silence, she asked, "Haven't you heard? This table is for losers."

Steve shrugged. "I guess I'm in the right place, then."

With a snort, she said, "You're Steve 'The Hair' Harrington. Aren't you practically Alpha of the whole school?"

Looking over at the table where Tommy and Carol were sitting with most of the members of the basketball team, Steve said, "I guess not."

After looking at him for a long moment, she held up her milk carton like she was giving a toast and said, "Welcome to the way the other half lives."

He laughed a little and raised his own milk carton, tapping it against hers. "Thanks."

At the end of the day, as Steve was loading up his backpack in anticipation of maybe missing Monday or Tuesday, given the way Nancy's pre-heat was progressing, Tommy approached him. Leaning against the lockers, Tommy said, "Steve."

"Tommy," Steve replied, not looking over at him. 

Scoffing and shaking his head, Tommy said, "Those Omega heat pheromones really have you messed up, don't they?"

"Messed up?" Steve asked, dropping his backpack and turning to look Tommy in the eyes. "Messed up how?"

"Not thinking clearly. If you were, you'd realize that throwing _this_ ," he gestured back and forth between them, "away isn't worth it. That _she's_ not worth it."

Tommy lifted his hand, aiming for Steve's left scent gland – the same one Jonathan had stroked earlier in the day. Steve caught Tommy's wrist, gently but firmly pushing him away. 

"This," Steve said, gesturing back and forth like Tommy had, "is not what I thought it was. I loved you, I cared about you, Tommy. You treated me and my feelings like they were a game. That's not something you do to a person you love."

"Come on," Tommy said with a disbelieving laugh. "You're blowing this way out of proportion. And be realistic, Steve. We both know little Nancy Wheeler can't keep up with you during a rut."

Yeah, his rut was coming on, likely hastened and provoked by Nancy's pre-heat pheromones. Steve could feel the way it made him feel more aggressive, more dangerous. He took half a step closer to Tommy. His voice carefully controlled and measured, he ordered, "Say it."

"Say what?"

"That you love me," Steve insisted, keeping his eyes on Tommy's.

Tommy looked away, his smile a little more nervous than it had been a moment before. "Come on, Steve. This is stupid."

"You can't say it, can you?" Steve asked with a scoff. He picked up his bag and slammed his locker shut. "Have a nice life, Tommy."

Steve went straight from school to Nancy's house. When she answered the door, Steve asked, "You want me to help you through your heat, right?"

"Yes," she said with a quick nod, pulling him into a hug. "Yes, I want you, Steve. Are you mad I left the nest you made?"

"No," he told her, rubbing the bridge of his nose against her scent gland. "I just…" He tightened his arms around her, holding on for what felt like dear life. "This is real. You and me. It's real, right?"

"It's real." Nancy tightened her hold on him, too. She took a deep breath, letting it out in a huff before asking, "Are you going into rut?"

Steve nodded his head. "I'm sorry."

Nancy pulled back a little, giving Steve a look that lasted a long moment. Then she took his hand and led him into the house and up to her bedroom. After closing the door, Nancy sat him down on her bed and asked, "Why are you sorry for going into rut? It's not like you can help it."

"No, it's more like…" Steve sighed. "I'm sorry I don't have any betas to share the burden. I tried to put a pack together. I really did. I even…" he rolled his eyes. "I saw you hugging Jonathan Byers last night, and being the genius I am, I tried to ask him out this morning."

"Steve…" she said, giving him a wary look. "That wasn't… He's not…"

"Not a Beta, yeah, I know," Steve said, looking down at his hands. "I figured that out for myself, thanks."

Nancy laughed a little, but she pulled Steve toward her, putting his head on her shoulder. "People get through ruts on their own all the time. I'm sure you and I can figure out something that works for both of us."

"Okay." He rubbed his nose against her neck, and then finished the caress by kissing her scent gland. "I'm glad you're with me. When I found out he's an Alpha, I was afraid you would want Jonathan instead."

"You didn't need to be afraid," Nancy assured him, drawing Steve into a deep kiss. When it broke, she smiled at him and Steve felt a little bit better.

He cupped her face in his hands, smiling at her as he brushed his thumbs across both her scent glands. She closed her eyes and sighed. It reminded him a little bit of the way Jonathan had marked himself with Steve's scent. 

Steve still had no idea what that was about.

"I'm tired," Nancy told him, lying down on her bed. "Will you stay with me? I've been waiting to hear news about Barb all day, and it's just so…"

Steve nodded and lied down beside her. He held Nancy close, breathing her in and waiting with her.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for this chapter: the aftermath of abuse

When Barb came to, she was in so much pain that she thought it had to be a dream. The human body wasn't actually capable of withstanding pain like this, was it? Except when she sobbed, the sound seemed real, and the tears on her face seemed real. The scratchy sheets on her bed seemed real. And  _ everything  _ hurt.

"Oh, my god," Will whispered, gentle fingers combing through her hair. 

At least her hair didn't hurt.

"Barb? Can you hear me?"

She licked her lips and nodded, curling in on herself. The bruises were all over her face and arms and legs, and Barb remembered Sir deliberately avoiding hitting her in the stomach. He hadn't wanted to damage her "most valuable pieces of anatomy," and Barb could guess what he meant by that.

Clearing her throat, Barb asked, "How long have I been out?"

"Just a couple minutes," Will told her. "He left. He's gone for tonight."

"He's going to come back tomorrow," Barb said, a sob escaping her again. "I can't… I can't… not again."

"Shh," Will told her, and he was crying too. "You won't have to. It's going to be okay."

Barb couldn't bear to tell him that he was wrong. It wasn't going to be okay. Nothing was ever going to be okay again. They were going to be stuck here, with Sir for years and years. Like Danielle. She'd been here long enough to have a child who was around Barb's age. She couldn't even imagine being stuck in this place for that long.

Especially being treated like _this_.

It hurt too much to sleep that night, even when Will dropped off, breathing shallowly next to her, shielding her from the door the way she'd shielded him earlier. 

This was going to happen to Will, too. 

And there was nothing Barb could do to stop it.

The next day passed in a haze, every hour bringing them closer to when Sir was bound to come back. Every second bringing them closer to Sir continuing his "experiment."

She and Will were kept confined most of the day, with Eight bringing their meals into their room, rather than being allowed to eat in the common room. When dinner arrived, Barb asked, "Is he still punishing me for standing up to him?"

Eight said, "I don't know about such things," but then she lowered her voice and whispered, "One didn't come back from his patrol last night. First Eleven, now him? Something weird is going on."

In the hours after dinner, Barb waited for Sir to return. She waited, trying and failing not to lie on any of her bruises. After hours and hours of waiting, during what Barb guessed had to be the middle of the night, heavy footsteps descended the stairs again. The door at the bottom of the stairs clicked open.

When Sir didn't shut it again behind him, Barb sat up. Was something different happening now? Or was this another one of Sir's "experiments?" Or, had One's disappearance rattled Sir into making a mistake?

The lock to Barb and Will's room clicked open and she tried to move, to get in front of Will again, even though she knew she couldn't take another one of Sir's "lessons." Instead, Will put himself in front of Barb.

This time, when the door opened, the silhouette was just as tall as Sir's, but noticeably broader. The man in the doorway (Barb guessed an Alpha by his size, though her nose was too bloody still to be able to differentiate by scent), looked around the room before whispering, "Will Byers and Barbara Holland."

"Yes?" Will said, taking a step closer to the man. "Who are you?"

"Chief of police Jim Hopper," he said, and when he moved into the room a step further, the light fell onto Barb's face. The Chief visibly recoiled, muttering, "Oh, Jesus! What did he do to you?"

"Just get us out of here," Barb said. "Please?"

"Yeah," the Chief replied, stepping closer and offering Barb his hand. "Can you walk?"

Barb nodded, even though the movement of any of her muscles aggravated the bruises. When he saw the delicate way Barb was moving, Hopper said, "We don't have time to move slow. Can I pick you up?"

Thankful that he thought to ask first, Barb nodded. Chief Hopper bent down just enough to get his arm behind her knees, then he picked her up without any sort of struggle. "Come on," he said to Will, moving swiftly and quietly from the room. In the main room, he looked up at the camera in the corner and made a gesture with the hand behind Barb's back.

Then they moved up the stairs, Hopper first, Will just behind him. 

Halfway up, Will whispered, "There's others down here. We can't leave them."

"We're coming back for the others," Hopper hissed back at him. "But I can't get your mother to leave here without you."

"My mom is here?"

"Yeah. Let's move!"

The space at the top of the stairs wasn't as Barb expected it to be. She thought it would have been a normal sort of house, but she didn't see any windows anywhere. There was a kitchen, a young man bound with handcuffs and duct tape around his ankles and over his mouth lying prone on the floor. 

A woman stood at the door on the other end of the kitchen, waving them forward toward another set of stairs. These stairs led out into what looked like a storage shed. 

The woman took Will's hand and ran away from the shed and into the forest, clicking on a flashlight and leading the way down a path that ended at a roadway. There was a truck there, labeled, "Hawkins Police Dept." and Barb thought she'd never seen anything so beautiful in her entire life.

Will and his mom crawled into the back seat, hugging, and crying, and scent-marking each other as Chief Hopper drove them away from Sir's underground house.

Barb didn't let herself feel anything like hope until they were driving down Main Street, through downtown Hawkins, and pulling up to the emergency room entrance of Hawkins Memorial Hospital. Chief Hopper left the car, and came back a few seconds later with a wheelchair, which he helped Barb into. As he wheeled her into the hospital, Will and Will's mom on their heels, Barb asked, "Can someone call my dad?"

"That's going to be my first call as soon as we get a doctor to look at you," Hopper assured her. "You're okay now. You're going to be okay."

Barb understood that he was only trying to help, but she knew better. Nothing was ever going to be okay again.

~*~

Jonathan spent all day looking for his mother and Chief Hopper, but he couldn't find them anywhere. Feeling lost and alone, he went back home around dinner time. He wasn't hungry enough to eat anything more than half a sandwich, and he was almost done with it when the phone rang. He jumped up, taking it off the hook and almost choking on his sandwich as he said, "Hello?"

" _There_ you are!" said his mother's voice, exasperation thick in her voice. "Where have you been all day? I keep calling and you keep not picking up."

"I've been looking for _you_ ," he cried. "Where did you go this morning? Where are you?"

"I'm– I'm helping Hop run down a lead, okay? I think we're close. I just wanted to call and make sure you're alright."

"Mom," Jonathan said, deliberately not allowing himself to think about the weird moment he'd had with Steve Harrington. "It's not your job to track down leads. Why aren't you here? If anyone should be looking for Will with Hopper, it should be m–"

"Stop that right now, young man," Joyce said, in her strictest mom voice. "Just because you're the only Alpha in the family does not mean you're suddenly an adult, alright? Finding your brother is not your responsibility."

"But I–"

"No. And let me remind you. Which instincts are stronger than an Alpha's instinct to protect their pack?" Joyce left the question lingering until Jonathan sighed and answered it.

"An Omega's instinct to protect their children."

" _Exactly_ ," she said. "Now, I want you to stay home and stay safe. I will call you if anything changes."

"Mom!"

"I will call you. Do not move until I do," she said, leaving absolutely no room for arguments.

Jonathan sighed again and said, "Fine, okay. I'm staying put."

"Thank you, baby. I love you."

"Love you too, Mom," he replied, waiting to hear the dial tone before he hung up.

In the hours between that phone call and the next, Jonathan spent his time pacing around the house, unable to sit still. _Something_ was happening, but no one was letting him be a part of it. No one was letting him fix the mistake he'd made, leaving Will alone in the house.

If only he hadn't been so _stupid_. 

It didn't help that even all these hours later, he could still smell Nancy's scent where Steve had left it on his shirt. He could still smell Steve's scent on his thumb, despite having washed his hands several times since then. God, what was _wrong_ with him? Why the hell had he done something so stupid?

He was never going to be able to show his face at school again.

Frustrated, Jonathan started scent marking the doors and windows of the house, like that would help anything. All it did was make the house smell like the Alpha he'd been pretending not to be. 

It was two in the morning when the phone rang. Jonathan picked it up, “Hello?”

“Jonathan, it’s me,” said his mother, and she sounded emotional. 

“Oh, god. What happened?” he asked.

Joyce laughed. “We found him. We got him back!”

Dizzy with relief, Jonathan used his free hand to grab the wall, keeping himself upright. “Is he okay?”

“Yes! Yes, he’s okay. We’re at Memorial Hospital, just getting a check up to be sure.”

“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” Jonathan promised her. “Don’t move!”

Hyped up on adrenaline, Jonathan’s hands shook as he pulled on his coat and got into his car. He drove through the dark streets, constantly reminding himself to go the speed limit and no faster. He couldn’t make any more mistakes. Not when he was so close to seeing Will again. 

He made it to the hospital, and when he got to the emergency room, he caught a faint whiff of Will’s scent. He tracked it down, finding his family sitting together on a hospital bed, talking softly.

Jonathan walked right up to Will and threw his arms around the boy. “It’s so good to see you.”

“You, too,” Will said, squeezing Jonathan tightly and scent-marking his shoulder. Jonathan went ahead and marked Will right back, needing him to smell like family.

“Are you okay?” Jonathan asked when he finally let go of his brother.

“Mostly okay,” Will said with a brave nod. His eyes cut over toward a curtained-off bed across the aisle. “Barb protected me.”

Jonathan found himself surprised. Quiet, passive Barb Holland has protected his baby brother? “Is she…? You got her out too, right?”

Joyce nodded, clutching Jonathan’s left hand. “She sustained some injuries, but yes. We got her out.”

“What happens now?”

“Now,” Joyce said, “Chief Hopper is getting a judge to sign a warrant. He’s going to break up that whole nasty place. Get everyone out.”

Jonathan nodded. Then he pointed across the aisle, “Should I…? I mean, does Barb have anyone with her?”

“She’s got her parents,” Joyce assured him. 

He nodded, but then another thought occurred to him. "Has anyone told Nancy yet?"

"Not yet," Joyce told him. "It's the middle of the night. We'll make sure someone lets her know first thing in the morning."

Nodding, Jonathan sat down in the chair next to Will's bed. He was back. Will was back and everything was going to be okay. 

~*~

Nancy woke up too hot, her skin burning. Steve wasn't in bed with her anymore, and she vaguely remembered him kissing her and telling her he had to go home. She gave a frustrated little growl because she could still smell him. He hadn't been gone that long, but right now, when she needed him, he wasn't there. Shaky and sweating, Nancy got out of bed. She put on the sweatshirt Steve had left on the floor and shoved her feet into her shoes.

The clock on her nightstand said it wasn't quite seven in the morning. Mad about being awake too early two days in a row, Nancy stomped down the staircase. She almost made it out the front door, but Karen was in the kitchen and called after her, "Nancy, wait!"

Breathing hard, Nancy turned around. "Mom, I need to _go_."

"Yes, I can see that," Karen replied, putting her hand to Nancy's forehead. "Let me give you a ride."

Still thinking clearly enough to realize that walking through the chilly November morning in her pajamas and a sweatshirt probably wasn't the greatest idea, Nancy nodded. She let her mom take her by the hand and lead her out to the garage, putting her in the passenger seat of the station wagon.

Nancy buckled herself in and was glad when her mom didn't delay getting into the car and starting it. After they pulled out of the driveway, Karen said, "Chief Hopper called a few minutes ago. Barb is safe and at Hawkins Memorial."

The news shook Nancy out of her haze. "She is?"

Karen nodded. 

"What about Will? Is he okay?"

"Just fine and resting at home, according to Hopper." Karen gave Nancy a quick glance. "As soon as you're feeling better, I'll take you to go see Barb in the hospital."

"What about now? Can't I see her now?"

Karen looked over at Nancy and raised an eyebrow. "You can't go out in public like this, Nancy."

Looking down at the clothes she was wearing, and then feeling her hair with her hands, finding it nowhere near where it was supposed to be, Nancy nodded. "Okay, fine," she said, flipping down the visor mirror and trying to tame her hair with her fingers.

With a chuckle, Karen said, "I'm not sure I reacted to spending my first heat with an Alphafriend by saying, 'Okay, fine.'"

Not appreciating being made fun of, Nancy gave a huff. She couldn't exactly keep herself from smiling, though.

Barb and Will had been rescued, probably because of the information she'd gotten out of that creep, One. She was spending this heat with an Alpha who cared about her. He'd dumped his asshole betas for her. He'd built a well-thought-out, well-stocked nest for her. Hell, he'd even attempted to ask out a Beta he thought she liked. 

Nancy wasn't quite sure how she actually felt about Jonathan. He was nicer and more caring than she thought he'd be. He was absolutely _devoted_ to his family. She kind of wished he _was_ a Beta, because that sort of devotion and the stability that went along with it was a great quality. He would make a great pack member. But it was a stupid wish because Jonathan _wasn't_ a Beta. And she distinctly remembered him saying he didn't want an Omega, either. Even if Nancy could tell by his smell that he was just as compatible with her as Steve was, he didn't want a relationship.

Steve did.

It only occurred to Nancy as Karen was pulling up in front of Steve's house that she hadn't given her mom any directions. Karen had planned for this. She'd probably looked up the address in the phone book and memorized it as soon as Nancy had gone on a date with Steve. Looking over at Karen, Nancy realized that even though she wasn't as warm and comforting as most other Omega parents, she was still a really excellent mother. 

"Thank you, Mom," Nancy said, leaning over and giving Karen a hug. 

"Be careful," Karen replied, returning the hug. "I don't need any grandchildren yet. I'm not that old."

Nancy laughed. "We'll be careful. I saw the nest he built me yesterday. He thought of everything."

"Good," Karen said. "Call the house when you're on the other side of things. We'll all be worrying about you until you do."

"I'll remember," Nancy promised, seeing the front door open and Steve step outside onto the porch. 

Nancy couldn't help but go to him. She got out of the car and hurried on shaking legs up the front stairs, throwing herself into Steve's arms. Nancy breathed in and he smelled warm and spicy and _so good_ she could hardly stand it. After kissing him, tasting his lips and tongue, Nancy asked, "Are you in…?"

"Close," he agreed. "Probably only a few hours behind you."

"Take me to our nest," she told him, just barely noticing one of Steve's moms standing inside the house. Karen had followed Nancy up to the porch and Nancy heard the two of them talking as she and Steve went into the bedroom and closed the door behind them. 

~*~

When there was a joint lull in Nancy's heat and his rut, Steve put on some clothes and left the nest. He used the bathroom and was wandering, sex-drunk and sleepy, down to the kitchen when the doorbell rang. He didn't hear anyone else in the house (it didn't surprise him that his parents had gone out for the day), so he answered the door.

Jonathan Byers was on the other side. 

"Hi," Steve said, a smile tugging on his lips.

Jonathan took a sharp breath and his eyes went darker, and then wide. "Oh, sorry! I didn't know… I'll leave…"

Remembering the feel of Jonathan's hand against his scent gland, Steve said, "Wait."

Frowning, Jonathan turned back to face him warily. "What?"

Not understanding why he needed to, Steve grasped for any reason to keep Jonathan from leaving. "Nancy told me you got your brother back. That's great, man."

"Yeah," Jonathan said, still angled away from Steve. He breathed in again, and swayed back, a little closer. "It's good having him home again."

"Might as well tell me why you're here," Steve told him, clamping down on the urge to touch him. 

"I just…" Jonathan didn't quite meet Steve's eyes. "I wanted to apologize for yesterday. I shouldn't have… _touched_ you like that. Without permission. I'm sorry." He finally looked up into Steve's eyes, and goddamn did he look sincere. 

Tommy had never been sincere like that. 

_ Something  _ possessed Steve to reach out and pull Jonathan into a hug. "Thanks for the apology. Not many people would bother."

“Um, you’re welcome,” Jonathan said.

“I wish you were a Beta,” Steve said, without really meaning to. Sex with Nancy made him dumb, loosened his tongue. “She won’t say it but I know she likes you, and I could use the help.” Rubbing his jaw against Jonathan’s, making him smell more like pack, Steve said, “You should come help.”

“No, you’re not…” Jonathan took a sharp breath, leaning closer to Steve for just a second before pulling away. “You’re not thinking clearly. Either of you. I’m gonna go.”

“Yeah, okay,” Steve said, dropping his arms down at his sides and giving a big sigh. “Bye.”

“Bye,” Jonathan said softly, heading down the steps to the driveway.

After watching Jonathan go, Steve finished his errand to the kitchen, grabbing a couple of glasses of water and some apples to go with the rest of the food he had stashed up next to the nest. When he returned to his room, Nancy was still asleep, though he could see her starting to get restless. He took a few good swallows of water and put everything down before he sat down next to Nancy, petting her hair. 

She stirred, taking a deep breath before her eyes flew open. "Why do you smell like that?" she asked, her voice breathless as she climbed onto Steve's lap and sniffed his shirt. 

Tipping Nancy over onto the bed and following her down, scrambling to get his pants back off, Steve told her, "Jonathan stopped by to apologize for yesterday. For some reason, I hugged him."

Nancy giggled, pressing her nose to the shoulder of Steve's shirt and slapping away his hands when he tried to take it off. "What did he have to apologize about?"

"It was the weirdest thing," Steve told her, groaning when Nancy licked his scent gland. "I went a little Alpha and pushed him. Instead of pushing back, he rubbed my scent gland."

"This one?" Nancy asked, licking him again. 

"No," Steve said, holding onto her hips. "The other one."

Grinning, Nancy turned her attention to the other side of Steve's neck, licking the scent gland Jonathan had touched. "Fuck, you still taste a little bit like him."

Steve laughed, but he was also breathing hard, his rut coming on again as Nancy pressed her body against his. "You're a weird Omega, Nancy Wheeler."

"Kiss me," she replied, so he did.

~*~

Barb had been in the hospital almost eight hours, waiting for the doctors to declare her fit to go home, when Karen Wheeler knocked at the door to her room. "Barb? Can I come in?"

"Yeah," she replied, wondering why Mrs. Wheeler said, "I" instead of "we." Wasn't Nancy with her? "Come in."

When Mrs. Wheeler got close enough, Barb realized why Nancy hadn't come.

"She's in heat today?"

"Yeah," Mrs. Wheeler replied with a regretful smile. "But I had to force her not to come here first." Mrs. Wheeler took her hand, squeezing it gently. "Barbara, Nancy was beside herself the whole time you were gone. She fought harder than anyone else to get you back here, safe."

Barb wanted to believe her, she wanted to believe that Nancy had missed her, but Nancy wasn't _here_ was she? She was likely with Steve and his asshole Betas, getting her brain fucked out. She didn't want to say these thoughts to Nancy's mom, so she just said, "Thanks."

With another encouraging smile, she said, "Let us know if there's anything we can do. I know Nancy has been religiously collecting handouts and assignments from all your classes, so that you would have them when you came back. Will you still be here tomorrow, or will you be going home?"

"I'm going home sometime this afternoon," Barb told her, noticing when her parents returned from getting breakfast in the hospital cafeteria. "As soon as the doctor says it's okay."

"That's great!" Mrs. Wheeler said, greeting Marsha first, then Brian, then Barb's dad, John. "I just wanted you to know how happy we are that you're safe now."

Barb nodded and looked down at her hands. She knew she was supposed to feel safe now that she wasn't in that prison anymore, but she didn't. Not wanting to burden Mrs. Wheeler, who only meant well, she was sure, Barb said, "Thanks for coming, but I'm feeling kind of tired."

"Alright," Mrs. Wheeler said with another smile, and a gentle pat on her hand. "Sleep well. I will send Nancy as soon as she's feeling better."

Barb nodded.

After Mrs. Wheeler left, Marsha tried to sit with Barb, but she smelled too much like Alpha, and Barb shied away from her, reaching for John instead. Barb's Omega-parent sat next to her and wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. "It'll be okay, baby," he murmured, and Barb saw the look he exchanged with her other parents.

She couldn't help but ask them, "When?"

"When that bastard, Brenner, gets convicted for what he's done," John told her, kissing Barb's temple. "That's when you'll be okay again. I promise."

~*~

When Nancy woke up on Sunday morning, her body was sore, but her mind was clear. She stretched, noting the clock on Steve's nightstand. It was _late_ morning, but still morning. Standing up, Nancy realized she had no idea where her clothes were. Figuring he wouldn't mind, Nancy opened Steve's dresser and found a pair of sweats and a t-shirt that would serve well enough on her way to the bathroom.

She didn't see or hear any of Steve's parents, which was good. She probably would have died of embarrassment if she had. Who knew what they might have heard during the night? When she got back to his room, Steve was sitting up in bed, looking around with a dazed expression on his face. 

Smiling, Nancy crawled back into bed with him. "Good morning."

"Morning," he said, yawning. He leaned closer, cupping Nancy's face with his hand and scent-marking her shoulder. "How are you feeling?"

"Good," she said with a little laugh, returning the gesture. "Better. What about you?"

"I feel _fantastic_ ," he said, smiling as he pulled Nancy into a kiss.

She kissed him and then said, "I want to go see Barb."

"I think I should probably bring you home first," he said, looking her up and down. "Unless you want to visit her smelling like sex and wearing my clothes."

Nancy laughed. "Yeah, you're probably right."

While Steve took a quick shower and got dressed, Nancy called the house. Ted answered, so she told him she was alright and she'd be home soon. Then Steve gave Nancy a sweatshirt to wear over the rest of the clothes she'd borrowed. 

Once they were in the car and driving, he asked, "Okay, so I know I was a little out of it, but I think I remember _hugging_ Jonathan Byers yesterday. Did I actually do that?"

"I didn't see it, but that's what you told me," Nancy replied, remembering the moment Steve came back to the nest smelling even better than he had before. "You came back smelling like him."

Steve looked over at Nancy and said, "I came back smelling like him and you totally jumped me. You _like_ the way he smells."

"It's not my fault," she insisted. "It's–it's _biology_."

After a silent few seconds, Steve took a sharp breath and muttered, "Oh, my god…"

"What?" Nancy asked, concerned by the almost-sick look on his face. "What is it?"

Steve rested his temple on his hand, somehow still looking out the windshield as he drove. "After I hugged Jonathan, I asked him to have sex with us."

"Oh, my god!" Nancy cried.

Sounding more than a little shocked, Steve said, "I think _I_ like the way he smells, too!"

Nancy couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, my god!"

Steve looked over at Nancy as he pulled onto her street. "It really is too bad he's not a Beta."

"He wishes he was one," Nancy told Steve, remembering the talk she'd had with Jonathan after they caught One, Brenner's son. "He deliberately does things to make people think he's a Beta."

"Huh." Steve seemed to think this over as he pulled into Nancy's driveway. Before Nancy got out, Steve put his hand on her shoulder and said, "People would be more likely to believe it if he was in a pack with a known Alpha and a known Omega."

"Like us, you mean," Nancy pointed out.

"Yeah, like us." Steve gave Nancy a long look. "Is that crazy? I feel like that's kind of crazy."

"Is that something you would want?" Nancy asked him, watching Steve's face carefully. Everyone knew Alphas weren't supposed to be attracted to other Alphas. What if Steve was just still feeling fragile after losing Tommy and Carol? What if he only _thought_ he wanted Jonathan with them? What if he figured Nancy was more likely to stay with him if he let her be with Jonathan too? 

She didn't know how to ask all those questions without overwhelming him.

Steve licked his lips and cleared his throat. "They say the way you behave during heat or during rut is the way you wish you could behave all the time. The things...the _people_ you want during that time are the things and the people you wish you could ask for when you have a clear mind."

"Do you think that's true?" Nancy asked him. 

Steve shrugged. "It probably doesn't hurt to test the theory. Try it out. If Jonathan is game too."

Nancy hadn't seen Jonathan around Steve much at all, so she had no idea whether or not Jonathan would agree to date them, if he would agree to be their "Beta." She supposed all they could do was ask.

Nodding, she said, "Maybe we can ask him after school tomorrow."

"Yeah, okay," Steve agreed. He looked at the house and asked Nancy, "Did you want me to wait and drive you to Barb's place?"

Nancy realized that as much as _she_ liked Steve, Barb still didn't like him very much. If she was feeling as fragile as Nancy thought she might be, she probably wouldn't want to see _any_ Alphas. Shaking her head, Nancy told him, "I'll see you at dinner with my family tonight, okay?"

"Okay," Steve said, pulling Nancy into one last kiss before she got out of his car.

Nancy didn't have any of her things, including her keys, so she had to ring the doorbell like a visitor. To her surprise, it was Eleven who opened the door. "Hi."

"Hello," Nancy said, taking a step toward the house. When Eleven didn't move out of the way, Nancy asked, "May I please come in?"

"Yes," she said with a decisive nod. 

From the other room, Mike called out, "Hey, El! The show's back on!"

Eleven grinned and ran back into the living room, leaving Nancy alone in the foyer. Well, at least she and Mike seemed to be getting along well.

After Nancy had showered and dressed, she picked up the extension in her room and dialed Barb's number. It was Barb's mom, Marsha, who answered. "Hi, it's Nancy. I was wondering if Barb was up for a visit?"

"Oh, Nancy, how lovely to hear from you. I'm–" Marsha sighed. "Barb says she doesn't want anyone to come visit."

"Not even me?" Nancy asked, her eyes stinging and tearing up.

"I'm sorry, Nancy. What she experienced…" Marsha paused and Nancy felt the hot tears start to roll down her cheeks. "She just needs some time."

"Time," Nancy said. "Okay. Will you at least tell her that I love her and I'm thinking about her?"

"Of course. Why don't you call after school tomorrow? She might be feeling a little better then."

Nancy wiped the tears from her face and nodded. "Okay. I can do that. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Ever since Tuesday, all Nancy had wanted was to get her best friend back. Well, now Barb had been rescued and was home, but Nancy still didn't have her back. Martin Brenner should rot in hell for what he'd done, not just to Barb, but to all of his victims.

~*~

Jonathan's mom made him go back to school on Monday, even after he said, "Aren't you going back to work? We can't leave Will alone! Not again!"

"Calm down," Joyce said, putting her hands on Jonathan's shoulders. "Karen Wheeler is going to look after him today. She's bringing that odd little girl along with her. She and I both think it would be beneficial for them to spend some time together. Processing what happened."

Mollified on that front, Jonathan realized he was out of excuses. He had to go back to school. Nancy would be there. And, and _Steve_ would be there too. What if he told people Jonathan was an Alpha? What if he told people he was an Alpha, _and_ that Jonathan had marked himself with Steve's scent? Everyone would know what a freak he was.

Everyone would _know_.

Once he got to the school, Jonathan did his best to disappear into the background. It was a lot more difficult than it used to be, because people kept coming up to him, and _talking_ to him! 

Dennis Jackson said, "Hey, I heard Chief Hopper rescued your little brother! How awesome is that?"

Jonathan left without responding.

He went to all of his classes. He only spoke when he needed to. He collected his make-up assignments and got started on them during lunch. Jonathan managed to secure half a table just to himself, so he could spread out his math homework and get it done so he wouldn't have to bring his heaviest textbook home. He tried not to notice, but he _did_ notice when Steve and Nancy sat across from Robin Buckley three tables away. 

Steve introduced Nancy to Robin, and then he caught Jonathan watching. 

Shit.

Jonathan put his head down, did his math homework, ate his lunch, and pretended he didn't know exactly what it smelled like when Steve and Nancy had sex with each other. He pretended he didn't know how soft the skin over Steve's scent gland felt. 

Toward the end of lunch, Nancy threw away her trash and approached Jonathan's table. She sat down across from Jonathan and smiled at him. "Our plan totally worked."

Jonathan couldn't keep his lips from twitching upward in a brief smile. " _Your_ plan."

Nancy chuckled. "How is Will doing?"

"Pretty good, considering," Jonathan told her. Noting the time on the clock at the front of the room, he started gathering his papers together and sticking them into the book at the relevant page. 

"Hey," Nancy said, and then the bell rang. Standing up when Jonathan did, Nancy asked, "Can Steve and I talk to you after school? Like, someplace private? His car, or _yours_ maybe. If you like."

Thinking about the state of his car, and how it still kind of smelled like One despite the scrubbing he'd given the upholstery and the air freshener hanging from the rear view mirror, Jonathan said, "I'll meet you guys at his car."

He had two classes with Nancy in the afternoon, but during both of them, he managed to avoid being cornered by her again. It wasn't too difficult, given the way everyone seemed to want to talk to her about Barb's kidnapping and rescue.

Nancy looked uncomfortable when it came to the subject of Barb, which Jonathan felt a little bad about. Then again, if people were asking Nancy about Barb, they _weren't_ asking Jonathan about Will. The lack of attention on him was such a relief that he didn't go as far as wishing their classmates would leave Nancy alone.

Then the school day ended. Jonathan had quit his job when Will went missing, and hadn't gone to the record store to ask for it back yet, so he had nowhere else to be. He had no excuses he could use to avoid this discussion. Jonathan loaded up his backpack, took it out to his car and left it there before walking through the parking lot, looking for Steve's stupid maroon BMW. 

When he found it, Steve and Nancy were still halfway across the parking lot. Jonathan leaned against the car, prompting Tyler Randall to call in his direction, "Hey, Byers! Better not leave your grimy prints on that thing. Harrington will kill you!"

Jonathan narrowed his eyes at Tyler, but he didn't respond.

Steve, on the other hand, called out, "Hey, Randall! Fuck off! Let me defend my own property!" 

Tyler flipped Steve off, which he returned in kind, and Jonathan really didn't understand it when two seconds later, Steve was grinning at Jonathan happily. "Hey, you showed up!"

With a shrug, Jonathan said, "Didn't have anything better to do."

"Oh, how he flatters us," Steve said to Nancy, making her grin. "C'mon, let's get in."

Steve got in the driver's seat, and Jonathan expected Nancy to get in the passenger seat, but instead she got in the back. Confused, Jonathan took shotgun, closing the door before asking, "What's this about?"

Nancy scooted closer to Jonathan and asked, "Do you still want people at school to think you're a Beta?"

God, what a personal question to ask, and in front of Steve, too! Looking down at his hands, because he couldn't stand looking Nancy in the eye as he spoke, Jonathan nodded and said, "I mostly don't want them knowing I'm an Alpha."

Reaching up and putting her hand on Jonathan's shoulder, Nancy asked, "Do you want us to help you pass as a Beta?"

Jonathan frowned at her. "I don't… What do you mean?"

It was Steve who spoke next, "We want you to be part of our pack. Everyone knows I'm an Alpha and that Nancy's an Omega, so if we were dating you, they would all assume you were a Beta."

For a long moment, Jonathan thought this through. As long as no one got too close, Steve was right. No one would think Jonathan was an Alpha. But, he was left with one, big lingering question. "What would you guys get out of it?"

Steve went a little pink and looked back at Nancy, who blushed as well. After a second, Nancy said, "Whatever you're willing to share with us."

Jonathan took a breath, and they both still kind of smelled like they had on Saturday, the heat and rut pheromones still lingering. As he breathed them in, everything got brighter and louder. "I don't…" he admitted, "know _how_ to do...anything."

"It's mostly instinct," Steve said, and Jonathan watched as he reached slowly for Jonathan's hand. When Jonathan let him have it, Steve smiled and brought it up to his left scent gland. It was the same one Jonathan had touched the other day. 

Just like before, Jonathan rubbed his thumb back against the gland, releasing more of Steve's scent into the car and onto Jonathan's skin. Steve made a pleased noise, closing his eyes and taking a few quick breaths. 

Jonathan could barely breathe, himself.

Nancy moved closer and Jonathan turned toward her, caressing her scent gland with the same thumb. The two scents mixed together, all warm and sweet and musky, and suddenly Jonathan was almost as turned on as he had been during his presentation rut over the summer. 

Reaching between the front seats, Nancy pulled Jonathan toward her and kissed him. She tasted a hundred times better than she smelled and Jonathan groaned. When Nancy let Jonathan go, Steve was watching them with dark, dangerous eyes. As Steve lunged for him, Jonathan was half expecting to be strangled to death. Instead, Steve kissed him and rubbed both his thumbs across Jonathan's scent glands. Jonathan groaned into the kiss, because Steve tasted a hundred times better than he smelled, too. Jonathan understood why Nancy's scent appealed to him. She was an Omega. That's how it was supposed to go.

The fact that Steve's scent appealed to him just as much, even though he was an Alpha like Jonathan, was weird. Weird, but really fucking good.

As Steve broke the kiss, breathing hard, he said, "Please tell me you can come over to my place with us for a while."

Sighing, Jonathan said, "I actually have to go by Nancy's to pick up Will."

"Let's all go to my house," Nancy suggested. "Maybe we can have a few minutes together before you have to go."

"Yeah, okay," Jonathan said, accepting one more kiss from Nancy, and another from Steve before he got out of the car. 

He went to his own car, got in, and started the engine, pleased to realize that the scents Steve and Nancy had left on him now overpowered the lingering Alpha smell. He followed Steve's car away from the school and toward Nancy's neighborhood. Halfway there, he realized he was smiling, and he had been smiling for long enough that his cheeks ached. 

It was an excellent problem to have, especially contrasted with all the ones he'd had over the past week and a half. Will was back home and safe. The night before, Joyce had slept her first full-night's sleep since Will had been taken. And now Jonathan was part of a pack, without having to be the Alpha of it. Somewhere along the line, his prayers had been answered. 

Jonathan vowed to be fittingly grateful.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I'd love to hear what you thought of this work, so go ahead and tell me in the comments below! I've got a few ideas for what might come up in a possible sequel to this fic, but I'm still working that out. If you have any requests, by all means, let me know!
> 
> For those of you who've been following the Mr. Sandman series, a new one-shot will post tomorrow, March 21st. I hope you'll like it!
> 
> If you want to chat (about fic or anything else) you can find me on [tumblr](https://pterawaters.tumblr.com/) or [pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.social/pterawaters). 
> 
> If anyone would like, here is the breakdown of the different family packs and their A/B/O designations:
> 
> Wheeler family: Harvey (Alpha, deceased), Ted (Beta), Dina (Beta), Karen (Omega), Paul (Dina and Harvey's son, Alpha), Nancy (Harvey/Ted and Karen's daughter, Omega), Mike (Harvey/Ted and Karen's son, unpresented), and Holly (Harvey/Ted and Karen's daughter, unpresented)
> 
> Harrington family: Fred (Alpha), Olivia (aka Livvy, Beta), Samantha (Beta), Harriet (Omega), Steve (Fred and Harriet's son, Alpha)
> 
> Byers family: Lonnie (Alpha, abandoned the family), Joyce (Omega), Jonathan (Alpha), Will (Omega)
> 
> Holland family: Marsha (Alpha), Brian (Beta), John (Omega), Barb (Marsha/Brian and John's daughter, Omega)


End file.
